It was good Axel had decided to call their session to a close when he did, because Astrid looked just as beat as he did. Not in a gross way, though, he admired the girl for being able to keep up with the more experienced demigod. She was a hockey player though, and from what he could tell, it was not an easy sport, and one needed to be in good shape to be able to excel. He could especially tell from her body. Much like him, the girl had ditched most of her clothing once they started to sweat, and it was hard for Axel to keep focused on the fighting. Although, he probably didn’t let his guard down enough for Astrid to realize he was checking her out. At least he hoped so.

Axel caught Astrid’s laugh as he flexed his arms and abs. He looked down at his six and then back up at the girl with narrowed eyes and a sly smile. “Oh come on, you can’t tell me you’re not enjoying the view.” The boy had put in work to create his sculpted body, and he wasn’t about to hide it, especially when he was on an unconventional date with a beautiful girl that gave him a valid excuse to take his already revealing shirt off.

Axel nodded at Astrid’s reasoning. The sword was made of a metal rather than wood of a hockey stick, but the length and weight did seem similar. Now that she mentioned it, Axel recognized the other demigod’s more accurate and precise movements with the sword. “Well, now you can fight with both if needed. I’m glad you still liked the daggers though.” He paused from stretching and put pulled his black daggers out of the ground, whipped them off, and put them back in their holsters at his hips. At Astrid’s question about making them spaghetti, his jaw dropped. “You mean to tell me you forgot about the spaghetti?” His stomach audibly growled. He smiled, letting on that he was joking. Finishing his last stretch, he got himself up and picked is tank top up and hung it around his neck. Next, he held his hand down to help Astrid off the ground.

Axel revealed a wide grin. “Ah, so you are enjoying it.” Of course she was, anyone who had eyes would, in his opinion. He thought it was quite cute how she called him a dork. As if he knew he didn’t have to flex to look good. It was his turn to roll his eyes at Astrid’s remark. He dismissed her comment with a flip of his hand. Axel wouldn’t go that hard, anyway. He caught Astrid really looking at him too, but with her personality, he wasn’t sure if she was just doing that for his unbearably large ego. Oh well, a check out was a check out.

The boy watched the other demigod with a serious smile as she commended his teaching skills. “Thank you, I’ve been doing this long enough I’d hope to be able to pass what I’ve learned to others.” Axel had trained many demigods in his years being a legionnaire, and he wasn’t about to stop here. It gave him peace that he could teach others how to protect those who led a dangerous life of a demigod. It especially pleased him that Astrid was an excellent fighter. He couldn’t be worrying about her anymore than he already would just because, well, now he cared about her just a little bit more than most of the other campers. Axel nodded to her suggestion. “Yeah, I’ve had enough training with my brother for that one…” He smirked, knowing that was one of their favorite activities to do: spar.

Axel laughed, pulling Astrid up. Although when she stood, the two were quite close, their noses almost touching. Not wanting to take the more… romantic route yet, Axel turned what could have been a very awkward moment into a silly one by playfully blowing a raspberry in her face. He let go of her hand as she stretched, and thought about where they could get ingredients for a moment. “Yeah, there should be a little market in town that you can get what you need.” Axel then remembered that they were disheveled and covered in sweat. Definitely in no condition to go out in public. “We should probably clean up first, though. I don’t know about you, but I feel gross.” He smirked, feeling the sweat drip down his body. Shivering in disgust, he motioned to the barracks. “Come on, lets go.”

Axel rolled his eyes at Astrid’s retort. Maybe a little? Ok, keep telling yourself that… Axel thought to himself. He listened in to the blonde’s other questions, and realized he hadn’t updated her on recent news he’d received. With the events that had happened in the past week, he hardly had time to see her aside from passing her around camp. Although first, he answered her directly with a smile. “First of all, you’re the one who suggested this, and I guess it’s a Centurion thing, I’ve trained many of those in my cohort.” He smirked as Astrid asked if he trained all the pretty girls that came into camp. If he was being honest, he didn’t find almost any of the other girls as attractive as the one standing before him. But that hadn’t stopped him from flirting with them from time to time either.

Just as he expected, Axel had made Astrid laugh by blowing a raspberry in her face, and he laughed as she did so herself. “They should have everything you need, otherwise I don’t know how people in New Rome would live.” Axel snorted to Astrid’s sarcasm, but responded smoothly, “Oh I do, but what I really want is the entire camp seeing you with me.” He put his arm over the girl’s shoulder, smiling and looking down at Astrid as he lead her back towards the barracks. Even though he was a hopeless flirt, he actually meant what he said. Of course, Axel didn't want it to seem like they were 'together' - so to speak - yet, but it would be nice to make sure any other guys wouldn't even think about going after Astrid. The son of Venus wanted to explore where this interest would go.

As they walked, Axel finally brought up what had kept him from making sure her first week was going well. “I feel bad I haven’t checked to see how you were doing this week, but a lot’s been going on in the legion for me.” It had worried him all week how the new demigod was doing with adjusting to camp. But he had mixed feelings on the previous week with what happened to him, but was excited to tell Astrid both things nonetheless. “Good news or not as good news first?” 

This was a discussion Astrid couldn’t win. He knew exactly why he was chosen to give the new girl a tour and so did she. Axel assumed she just wanted him to admit that he tried to woo all the new girls by teaching them how to fight. She wasn’t exactly wrong, but in this case, it was her who asked him in the first place. Axel’s ego was too big to succumb to her. “And your cohort didn’t have a centurion, so the praetors asked me to give you a tour.” He shook his head sarcastically, “C’mon, I told you that.” The demigod smiled at the girl’s next comment, he had to give into her this time. “Of course I enjoyed training, how could I not when it’s with someone as beautiful as you.” He looked down at her stomach, uncovered since she was only wearing a sports bra. “Although, I was really just looking at your belly button ring, it was shiny.” He joked, deciding not to fully let her in on how much he was actually admiring her.

Axel shrugged. “Any homemade food is a luxury to me, I’m sure it will be good either way.” The boy hoped to ease her worries, because he definitely would not be as disappointed with whatever she came out with. Axel couldn’t remember the last time he had a home cooked meal. But for Astrid’s sake, he really hoped the market had everything she needed. The taller demigod smiled as Astrid felt comfortable to his touch and rested her head on his shoulder, as sweaty as it was. Axel’s heart seemed to stop for an instant when Astrid referred to letting camp know about them. He hadn’t really thought that part through, and he wasn’t sure what he wanted his intentions to be just yet. Exclusive? Axel had never done that before. But then again, he never felt immediately drawn to someone like he did with Astrid. Getting past his initial shock of the question, he replied with a smirk, “I guess you could say that, yeah.” Oh well, he was going with it, and he didn’t regret his response.

The boy gave Astrid a side eye. “Pft, well now you definitely won’t get killed with the training, but really, I hope your week was alright.” If anyone had given the new girl any trouble in her first week, they would have hell to pay. Learned how to so something, eh? Must be her powers kicking in. Axel tried to think back at what Victoria kids could do besides be extremely competitive, but the thought escaped him. Instead he just nodded, eager to see what the answer was. “Cool, I can’t wait.”

The good news he had was especially exciting to Axel. It had been something he had waited years to happen, and he was still in disbelief that it was actually going on. He looked down at Astrid with a wide grin on his face, a bit of mischief showing as well. “My brother is finally joining the legion! He’s at the Wolf House now, actually.” He briefly remembered the reason why Brett finally decided to be closer with his twin brother, as sad as it was, but knew his condition would become better with time. “I visited Brett this week and he actually asked me to bring him. Hopefully he’ll get through alright, but Brett’s a tough guy, so I know he will.” Axel was through his best news, but he wasn’t sure how Astrid was going to feel about what else he had to share.

Axel smiled as Astrid commented that she was glad it was he who met her at the gate of the principia a week ago. The blonde added a new excitement to his sometimes rather dull days, as he had her now to look forward to. With the way the two got along, Axel assumed this wouldn’t be their last date. Eyes widening at Astrid’s suggestion he quickly replied, “No no no, I think it’s hot.” He didn’t think he let on that he didn’t like her piercing, but he wanted to make it clear that he in fact did like it. Astrid did really pull it off nicely, the blue in the piercing matched her eyes.

Astrid’s determination was certainly something to admire. Axel thought it was cute that she wouldn’t settle for anything but the best. Man, that really puts the pressure on me… Axel was lost in his thought, hoping he could live up to what the girl considered “the best”. Even though he had just met the other demigod, he was determined to be that for her.

Axel shot Astrid a nervous glance. “Great thanks, I’m actually worried now.” Axel followed up his comment with a small smile, not trying to put a damper on things. But really, anything could happen at any second around here, and he didn’t need his feelings getting in the way of leading camp. Now with Astrid, though, that would be nearly impossible. Axel nodded, listening to the girl’s first week experiences. A sour look appeared on his face when she mentioned someone in her cohort not liking her. Although he had an idea of who it could be, he asked just to make sure of his theory. “Who do I have to beat up?” He joked. Well, kind of joked. No matter who they were, no one in his legion should be giving a newbie a hard time during their first week at camp. “Well just give me a warning before you show me, alright?” Axel chuckled.

The pair were nearing the barracks, although they were walking pretty slow, caught up in conversation. Normally Axel hated to waste time and was efficient, but he didn’t seem to notice when he was with Astrid. “Yeah, right! I’m pumped. Brett just wasn’t happy where he was, and we don’t get to see each other nearly enough, and that was just getting to him.” It wasn't his place to tell Astrid the full truth. As they came up on the barracks, Axel diverted the question. “I’ll tell you after we rinse off and change, I know you’re gonna have a lot of questions.” He smirked, knowing Astrid well already. He looked back at her as he entered his barracks, thinking of what he should wear on the next part of their date.

Axel shook his head, smiling as Astrid explained that not many people had seen her naval piercing. “Yeah, uh, I don’t think that would be the only thing your dad would flip out about right now…” The boy moved his arm, still keeping it on the girl’s shoulder, to reference what they were doing right now. If he remembered correctly, Astrid’s father forbade her from dating anyone while she was in high school. And here the two were, going on a date. Axel secretly dreaded the day Astrid brought him home to meet her father. The demigod naturally wanted to arm himself with his knives, but didn’t think that would win him any brownie points with the blonde’s hockey-playing father.

At Astrid’s reassurance, Axel relaxed, but just a little. He felt very protective of those he trained, and protective of his legionnaires in general, as it was up to him to train them correctly or make sure they were by someone else so they would be able to protect themselves from the inevitable monster fights. The demigod tried to shake the though from his head, though. He was supposed to be relaxing with the other demigod, not worrying about everyone else. Axel scrunched his face just at the mention of the constantly crabby girl from the fourth. “Isla hates a certain type of people: leadership and kids of Victoria and Fortuna. She’s… always angry at something anyway, don’t take it personally.” The boy knew all too well how he tried and failed to make peace with Isla over shopping. It was something they both liked, and she couldn’t manage to be civil even over such a fun activity.

With the hand that wasn’t around Astrid, he whipped his brow dramatically. “Oh phew, got me scared for a second there.” Axel laughed, hoping he’d land a good reaction from the blonde. The demigod continued to smile and nodded reassuringly, partially for Astrid, but partially for himself as well. He could only hope his brother would like it better closer to Axel. “I’m sure he will, I’ll take good care of him.” 

Axel chuckled to himself as he stepped into the third cohort barracks to rinse off and change into a nicer outfit he would be proud to go out in. The two wouldn’t just be going into New Rome, but also a tattoo parlor in the mortal world. He needed to look the LA part. Being a son of Venus, Axel naturally took care in his appearance and style. He looked through his expansive collection of name brand clothes and shoes and eventually settled on an outfit. He ran a bit of gel through his brown hair to keep it out of his face, and he was back out the door to find Astrid waiting for him. He completely forgot about the rest of his news as his jaw dropped at the sight of her outfit. And not just because she looked amazing. He crossed his arms and stuck a hip out, as if to act like a petty girl. “Bitch, one of us just has to change.” Axel said in a frivolous voice.

Axel's Outfit