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“I know we’re like ten months away, but now I’m excited to see what you bring for next Halloween,” she teased. Cece wondered for a moment if this kind of charisma was just natural to someone like Simon, or if he ever had to try. She supposed that was why he chose the Ambassador track, and she could imagine it made most people gravitate towards him. The moment his expression seemed to change, she noticed it, and a twinge of guilt creeped up into her chest. For his sake, she tried to squash it down, fixating instead on the change of subject, a breathy sort of chuckle escaping her lips. “Thank you,” she smiled. “Nothing major, just grabbed my favorite meal from the diner and hung out with Jake. A nice night in, you know?”

“That’s what I thought,” she laughs, unscrewing the top of his thermos and bringing it to her lips, tasting hot chocolate the way she had convinced him to make it— with milk, never water— reminded of compromise. “Fine, fine,” she chirps. “I may or may not have thought the burnt bits tasted good last time,” Cece admits, a sheepish smile on her face as she tries to hide her expression, but she can’t help turning to see his reaction.

“Went to bed at a respectable hour?” Cece joked. “I’m glad you had a good time, though. Your costume was so gorgeous, by the way.” She wasn’t sure many people could pull off Howl, and Simon seemed to rock it easily. At his question, she paused slightly, mouth open with a hesitant breath as she tried to think of anything of note. “Not much, if I’m honest. I’ve sort of just been putting in a lot of extra training hours. I figured it’s time I finally got myself off probation after— ...you know.” Gods, she had to stop bringing the mood down with that. “Oh, uh, I had a birthday, too!” Nice save.

She catches his correction and has to assume that it’s something Jake’s told him, and she fights the small smile it causes. “Hm? Oh, yes, yes, fully sober, I swear,” Cece chuckles. “I promise I can have a good time without alcohol. Hey, how were the birthday shenanigans?” she asks, realizing she hasn’t really talked to him since Halloween.

Her body is already turning to him before she even registers that it’s him. December is usually a pretty lax month, so other than a birthday celebration she shares with her best friend, her days are typically pretty empty. But this year, she’s tried to put any down time into extra training, lamenting the fact that they haven’t really seen each other too much this winter season. A smile lights her face at the sight of him, and she easily takes her place by his side, walking along the sidewalk with him without question. “Roast or completely and totally burn?”

Cece turns in excitement towards her friend’s exclamation, and instead of just blowing on the marshmallow, panic drives her to chant a quick spell and extinguish the tiny fire in a small burst of magic. “The burnt bits are the best parts, in my humble opinion,” she giggles, handing her a small plate with a piece of chocolate and two graham crackers.

“It was. It is. This... What happened to you is just as important. I care what happens to you, Jake,” she tells him, not breaking his gaze, finding a handful of the strength she’d abandoned since February in the tight fists by her side. It would always be easier to be stronger when it came to him, to do anything she needed, be anyone she needed, when it meant caring for him. Though, right now, it makes her want to reach over and hit him, to find a way to break through his own stubbornness and make him understand that his crosses are not his alone to bear, that she’s been begging and begging for him to let her be there. But when he opens his mouth again, her hands soften, that misdirected ire falling away. I just didn’t want you to hurt more. She’s so sick of her own tears and the way that their falling always seems to catch more of his concern, but she can’t help it. She can only hope he doesn’t see too much of them when instead she closes the distance and wraps her arms around him wordlessly, bringing his chest tight against her as her tears stain his shoulder. “You won’t hurt me,” Cece whispers into the fabric of his shirt. “You can’t, you don’t know how.” In all the years she’d known him, despite all their petty arguments and all the trials and tears they’d been through, she had never once felt him capable of it. It was part to do with how clearly he cared about her happiness, and part to do with how easily she found it to see him. How could she ever feel hurt by him when her first instinct was to understand him? She pulls away for a moment so he could see the pleading in her eyes and understand her too. “You’re never going to be burden to me. So, please, just... Just be honest with me. Trust me to handle it.” Cece lets him pull her back in, lets herself rest her head against his chest. Briefly, as she feels his heartbeat against her skin, she wishes they could stay like this most days, that she could just be there for him, and he could just be okay. “No. Next time you’re in danger I’ll be there to protect you.”

“It was basically your normal wardrobe,” she retorts. Cece hadn’t really even known Jake and Simon were that good of friends, but saying that out loud might come off a little insulting, so she keeps it to herself and just smiles, happy that Jake has more people in his life that want to spend time with him. “No, no, come on, you’ve already committed to the costume,” Cece insists, waving him off with a hand. “Simon will probably kill you if you bail now,” she chuckles, trying to keep her voice as light as casual as possible. It’s easy to urge Jake to stick with his plan and try his best to have fun tonight, but it’s also all too easy to want to latch onto the possibility of still getting to spend a quiet night alone with him. Gods, since when did you become such a shut-in? she thinks to herself, despite knowing exactly when and why. “Go to the party, Jake. Have fun. Be a stupid twenty-something-year-old for once, you deserve it,” Cece tells him, giving him an earnest smile and small squeeze on his arm. “I’ll be okay, promise.”

“I know it’s what wakes you up every morning,” she responds, a wry smile on her lips. She can imagine Dahlia’s heroics effortlessly gaining a following, though she can’t say she can imagine the daughter of Achlys ever truly caring. She’s shown such apathy to Cece countless times before, it only stands to reason she would feel the same to others. Though it’s strange now that what she seems to be getting from her isn’t apathy but some sort of commiseration. It’s oddly refreshing. “Fine, for the most part,” she sighs, though she’s spent most days just trying not to think too hard about it. Surprised eyes flit back up to Dahlia, paused for a moment at the apparent honesty in her voice, and the genuine consolation it makes her feel. “I... Thanks, that... That means a lot.”

Cece lets out a small laugh, not catching the way August seems lost for a moment and only taking her at her word. “I wouldn’t say that, anyone can learn, I mean it’s in our blood, right?” she chuckles, raising a brow back at her. “Technically, we all have to train anyway, so, I bet you could get good at it,” she reassures her. Now that Marina has made it a priority for everyone to defend themselves, she at least hopes it’ll do some good to make demigods more prepared. Not that she wants anything like last winter to happen again... When they both come back their distractions, Cece smiles at her again as she leads them down the path towards The Rec. “At least you’re doing something productive. Do you... like work?” She’s hoping for August’s sake that the answer is yes.

“I can handle more,” she responded quickly, fervently, in the hopes it would get through his head. “What about you?” Cece asked, a touch quieter this time, gentler. Jake had always been one to never complain about the weight of the worries plaguing him at any given point in his life, but she knew better than anyone that it didn’t mean it was easy. He would shoulder it, light or heavy, no matter what, it didn’t make a difference to him. But she feared at one point or another it was going to break him. Ever since she’d met him she’d been trying her best to make him understand that there were people in the world who would want to help carry those burdens with him, especially her, but he’d been through so much up until now that it was hard to unlearn how alone he felt he was. “Don’t be sorry, it’s not about that,” Cece whispered, shaking her head slightly, biting her lip as she tried to think of the right answer. “I just... I wish you would think about yourself every now and then, Jake.” When she looked back up at him, she tried to find the truth in his words, in I’m fine, but she wasn’t sure where the line was. She knew that in this moment he had probably convinced himself that he was in fact fine, but she couldn’t tell how deep that mask really ran. All she wanted was for him to be honest, but she didn’t want to question his trust, or let him know right now that she doubted it. “I’m sorry I found out today. I would have held it in for a day if I could but I just... the thought of it...” Her voice trailed off, not wanting to let him hear it waver, and stubbornly turned for just a moment to quickly wipe an annoying tear away. “You mean too much to me.”

“You’ve put on a T-shirt before and called yourself Shaggy, that’s different,” Cece responds, shaking her head with a small laugh, hoping the exhale of breath helps to loosen the strange feeling in her ribs. “Howl’s Moving Castle?” she asks with a raised brow, of course already knowing the answer— she was Kiki’s Delivery Service only last year— but she’s not entirely sure why he’d pick a tertiary character from the movie until he explains Simon’s costume and it makes sense. “Oh, that’s... That’s gonna look really cool, Simon’ll kill that. I’m glad it sounds like you’re having fun,” she says, and she does honestly mean it. Jake hardly participates in these sort of things, especially parties. She’s usually the one that has to drag him out of his apartment, and it means something important to her that he has friends who want to do the same. “No, I—” She doesn’t know why, but suddenly Cece doesn’t want to tell the truth. It feels too pathetic, or like maybe he might worry about her if she confesses to wanting to stay at home all night instead of be around friends. In the one second of panic she allows herself, she decides to save him the trouble. “Actually, I’m keeping August company,” Cece blurts, busying herself with finding the right place to fit her book inside her bag so she doesn’t have to look him in the eye. “You know August, right? She’s new— Nyx kid in Tech— anyway, she’s got this big project to finish, and I just figured she shouldn’t be alone on a holiday, so... yeah. Maybe some trick-or-treaters will come by the Agency building,” she finishes her lie with a big smile and prays August will forgive her for throwing her under the bus.

“Actually—” Cece starts with a slight smile, closing her book at the mention of Halloween. She’d been thinking about the upcoming party, and the way that this year still just felt so... heavy on her. Last year, she would have been dragging Jake to come along with her, but now all she wants is to stay in and rest. She’s about to go on and ask him to stay in with her, imagining how nice it would be to just order take-out and watch movies all night, when Jake speaks up again and the thought doesn’t get a chance to ever make it past her lips. She pauses for just a second, processing the information and hating the crestfallen feeling in her chest enough to pretend she doesn’t notice it. “Oh, you’re— You’re dressing up?” she repeats, adding jovial teasing in her tone to hide the shocked surprise. “As what?”

She heard the way he explained it, like he was reading it from a history report, not like it was his own lived experience. She knew he must have distanced himself from it— it would be hard for any one of them to process, but someone like Jake... Someone like him, she knew it would be especially difficult. Jake spoke about it like a passing thought, but the fully formed reality of it brought Cece to tears. The thought of what could have happened if they hadn’t been able to fix it, if she herself hadn’t had the stamina to amplify Ginny’s powers one last time... She could have lost him. Jake wasn’t reckless with his life, but it was always apparent to Cece that a part of him— however small it might be— was careless about it. Silently, she nodded, another couple of tears sliding down her face when their weight grew too strong, and she took the remaining steps to him to unwrap her arms and gingerly take one of his hands in hers, squeezing it til she could feel his heartbeat. Alive. “You didn’t,” she whispered, hating to speak it aloud, even though it was the truth. “Dia remembers that. And I think you do too,” Cece told him, her voice still so quiet, but close enough for him to hear. “You could have told me,” she said, looking back up at him. “You should have, Jake, that isn’t... That isn’t something you should remember alone.” You’re not alone.

“So then you’re one of those real smarty-pants?” she asks with a slight grin. “I always assume everyone in the Tech track is. I mean, I can hardly comprehend all of the stuff you guys do, and to do it with all the advanced equipment the campus has?” Cece lets out an impressed sigh as they walk out, eyeing some of the fancy machinery behind perfect glass walls in the halls of this floor. “The Rec is just northeast from here, super easy to get to from this building,” she explains as they make their way to the entrance doors. “Have you only been working since you got here?”

“Ramona is fine. So long as she’s okay with the fact that I’ve never seen that movie,” she adds, mostly meaning she hopes Oliver is okay with it, but she hears his suggestion from the other side of the fridge door. “Yeah, are you free next week? Work is... not too busy, so I have time,” she admits, and even though she wishes there was more to do than training and patrols, at least it’s nice to have extra time for her friends. “A plant is just perfect, Ollie,” she laughs, tossing ice into a glass and pouring some of the milk tea before handing it off to him. “I forget you Brits are all about tea, but a different kind.”