(Of course, customs and traditions are different for every family, so this is just from what I've observed from my family.)
The day seemed auspicious enough. The Zhang Mansion, which had been painstakingly restored after the war with Gaea was the designated ceremony location. Hazel was in a dressing room where Piper and a bunch of her siblings from both camps had been working on her appearance for the past two hours. The future wife of the praetor of New Rome had to look her best on her big day, after all.
"Oh my gods Hazel," Annabeth muttered, as she and Reyna entered.
"Is it bad? Do I look okay?" Hazel's eyebrows drew together.
"You'll look even greater once you put on the dress Grandma Zhang picked out for you," Piper said, gesturing towards a garment bag resting on a chair nearby. "That is, if you could call it a dress."
"A cheongsam," Annabeth said. "Technically, it is a dress." She shook her head, smiling slightly. "I still cannot believe Frank and Hazel are going to have this Chinese wedding."
"Well, Grandma Zhang wanted it, and I love her, so I agreed," Hazel said. "We're still having a traditional wedding. Plus, I can't wait to see how the guys and Frank brave the door games I read about." She giggled.
"Oh yeah," Piper said, stepping back to admire her work. "We've got some good ones planned, haven't we, girls?" She grinned at Reyna and Annabeth who smirked back.
#
"Okay guys, huddle up."
Frank was gathered with his groomsmen in a hotel room a short distance away from the Zhang Mansion. A mini version of the Argo II was parked in the basement, with a working replica of Festus and all that. Leo had put it together as a wedding gift to Frank and Hazel, and even allowed the Aphrodite and Iris kids to decorate it with ribbons and flowers.
"There's this one part of a Chinese wedding that none of us are gonna like," Frank said, glancing at his four groomsmen. Percy, Jason, Nico and Leo were dressed to the nines. Nico looked a little uncomfortable in his get-up, but anything for Hazel. Leo had cleaned the grease and motor oil off his hands. "They're called door games. Supposedly to see how much the groom will go through to get his bride or something like that. They'll make us do stuff like push-ups or dancing..."
"Hey, that'll be cool!" Leo grinned. "Nothing I can't handle."
"Oh man..." Nico muttered.
"So, just be prepared for that," Frank said. "Are we ready?"
#
Hazel sat in a bedroom in the mansion, alone. The door was closed and would only be locked when Frank and the guys arrived, but occasionally Calypso would check in on her. Once, Will Solace even dropped by to offer congratulations.
"I bet you can't wait to see Nico doing all those ridiculous stuff the girls have concocted," Hazel teased. "You'll never let him hear the end of it, will you?"
Will grinned. "Never."
After what seemed like an eternity, a loud roar that could only be the Festus replica sounded outside the Zhang Mansion, to louder cheers from the campers of both Camps Half-Blood and Jupiter who were invited. Hazel fanned herself slightly. Calypso peeked in one last time, gave her a thumbs-up, before shutting the door. Hazel heard the lock click into place.
#
"Hey! Hey! We're here!" Leo announced, as he jumped off the mini Argo II with the rest of the entourage. Piper, Annabeth and Reyna were already waiting outside the doors of the mansion, which were closed. Most of the guests were hanging around outside, waiting to see the event unfold. Jason smiled at his girlfriend, but Piper responded with a wicked smirk.
"You're not going to hurt us, are you, Wise Girl?" Percy asked.
"Oh, not too badly," Annabeth responded casually.
Nico tried to avoid looking at a grinning Will Solace only a few feet away from him.
"Alright, let's start with the easy ones first," Reyna said, unfolding a piece of paper. "This one's all for you, Frank. You have to answer a few questions on Hazel, to see how much you know about her."
"No problem, man, Frank's got like, a PhD on Hazel," Percy commented, making Frank go red.
"First question, when was Hazel born?"
"That's easy," Nico said.
"December 17, 1928," Frank replied, immediately. "In New Orleans. That's a bonus answer." Several watching campers laughed and clapped.
"What were both of you doing when Percy first arrived at Camp Jupiter?"
"Guarding the entrance, of course," Frank said. "And she did pull me out of the water later when Percy created a whirlpool." Behind him, Percy grinned.
Reyna proceeded with more questions, such as her favourite food, hobby and what she would probably do if Frank strangled Nico di Angelo. Hazel had provided all of the answers earlier, for Reyna's reference.
"He passed, didn't he?" Jason asked, when the questions finally came to an end. "Is there like a minimum score he has to get before we can get in?"
"There is no minimum score but that doesn't mean we can grant you entrance yet," Annabeth said, before shoving a page ripped from a notebook into Frank's hands and handing him a pencil. "I came up with this one, obviously. Solve these five Math equations together. No cheating, and you only have 15 minutes! Wouldn't wanna keep Hazel waiting, would you?"
"No, Wise Girl, why?" Percy groaned.
"Here, let me see that," Leo said, snatching the paper. "Hm, I can do this one. It's an Archimedes question. The rest, though..."
"I don't know how I fair at Math, but I can help..." Nico said.
"Here, let me do it!" said Frank.
The notebook page and pencil was passed from one guy to another, as they scribbled down answers, discussing tangents and angles. "Tick tock! You have ten seconds left!" Annabeth suddenly announced.
"Ten! Nine! Eight!" all the guests began counting down collectively.
"It's 37, it's 37!" Jason said, as Frank scribbled down the last answer before tossing the paper towards Annabeth like it was something poisonous. Annabeth snatched it out of the air and scanned their answers. "Not bad," she muttered. "Three out of five."
"So we do get to go in now?" Frank asked.
"Oh no," Piper said, stepping in. In her hand she held a smooth, peeled egg.
"Not this one," Frank groaned. "Did Grandma Zhang suggest this one?"
Piper smirked. "Anyway, you know what you have to do Frank. We've prepared three eggs, and you'll have to pass them to your groomsmen. The last one eats the egg whole."
"Sounds easy enough," Leo commented.
"Without using your hands. Just your mouths," Piper added.
"I take that back," Leo said.
The campers cheered as Frank bit into the first egg and turned to Leo, who slowly bit in to the part of the egg that was not in Frank's mouth as Frank let go, turning to get the second egg. Leo then passed it in the same manner to Jason. Jason turned to Nico.
"Do I really have to do this?" Nico said, though he didn't look like he minded so much. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Jason with an egg in his mouth was not easy to not laugh at.
"Mhmmgh," Jason tried to say something.
"Fine." Nico bit into the other end of the egg and turned to Percy. The son of Poseidon bit and ate the entire egg.
"Incoming!" Leo said, as the second one had reached Jason. The campers were still cheering. The egg was passed on to Nico and then to Percy, who ate it.
"If I have to eat one more..." he began.
"Just one more, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, grinning.
The third egg traveled a little faster as the guys were getting used to it. As Percy ate it, the campers burst into applause.
Jason was about to ask again if they were permitted entrance, when Piper placed a red bucket in front of the groomsmen. It was half-filled with water, and several silver objects at the bottom gleamed in the sunlight.
"Inside this bucket are five keys," Reyna explained. The groomsmen found her smirk rather unsettling. "One of them opens the doors to the mansion. You will have to retrieve it, using only one foot. And no, Percy, you're exempted from this task."
The groomsmen laughed. Frank moved forward, peering at the keys, but they all looked the same. When the mansion had been restored, most of the locks had been changed, including the front door so despite having lived there before, Frank couldn't tell which key was the right one.
"Just hazard a guess," Reyna said. "If it's the wrong one, well, you can get another one of your groomsmen to pick up a second one."
Frank plunged his bare foot into the water. "Ah!" He withdrew it immediately, hopping about on one foot as he regained his balance. "The water's freezing!"
"Not quite," Annabeth said. "The water is impure, and thus its current temperature is below the freezing point."
Frank gritted his teeth and plunged his feet in again. Trying not to think about the cold, he gripped one of the keys with his toes and brought it out, staggering backwards slightly. He dropped it on the ground.
"Try it!" some of the campers yelled.
Leo picked up the key. "Holy Hephaestus, it is cold!" he laughed, as his fingers made contact with the cold metal. He warmed it up with his fire as he sprinted towards the mansion's doors and jammed it into the lock.
"Sorry, Frank! Not the right one."
Frank, who was in the midst of putting back on his shoe and sock, groaned. He was about to ask Jason to take his pick when Nico stepped up.
"Let me try."
Reyna smiled as she watched. When Nico placed his bare foot into the bucket, his eyebrows drew together, but he didn't say anything. A moment later, he dropped his key onto the grass, and Leo scooped it up.
"Nice choice, di Angelo," Leo said, heading back to the doors.
"Let this be the right one," Jason said. "I am not putting my foot in that."
"Aha!" Leo exclaimed, as he turned the key in the lock. "Tis the one, fellas!"
Will gave Nico a thumbs-up, but the latter pretended not to see it. "How did you know that was the one?" Reyna asked, as Nico passed her on his way into the mansion with the other groomsmen.
"Just a lucky guess," he said, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
Inside the mansion, more campers were waiting along the corridors, and on the stairs. Frank and his groomsmen made their way to the room Hazel was in, only to find it barricaded by Calypso, who stood guard outside with her arms crossed and a sly smile plastered on her face.
"Aw, come on, sunshine," Leo said, spreading his arms. "Let us in!"
"Sure, after Hazel gives her approval," Calypso responded. Without turning away from the men, she knocked on Hazel's door. "Hazel, Frank's here. Should I let him in now?"
Inside the room, Hazel fanned herself once again. Her pulse accelerated and she was momentarily overcome by a wave of dizziness.
"Hazel? Calypso won't let me in," Frank's muffled voice floated through the door.
Hazel had gone over this with Grandma Zhang. This was some sort of extension to the door games they had played earlier. She hadn't exactly gone over what she wanted to ask, though, and glanced around the room, desperately trying to think of a question. A row of Olympian god figurines lined a shelf, and her eyes happened to fall right on Apollo.
"Can you sing me a song?"
Howls of laughter could be heard on the other side of the door. "Do you need some accompaniment?" sniggered a camper, probably an Apollo kid.
"Uh, no thanks. Um, uh..." Frank cleared his throat, and began to sing with a made-up tune. "Can you open the door, dear, please open the dooooor..." More laughter. Hazel burst into a fit of giggles. "Please open the door, Hazel, I've come to collect you-"
Judging by the laughter, the campers had totally lost it. Calypso's voice almost couldn't be heard. "Collect? Anyway, Hazel, you happy with that?"
"It's fine, let them in," Hazel laughed.
Calypso pushed open the door and Frank alone walked into the room while his groomsmen watched. Both blushing furiously, Hazel and Frank shared a kiss while all the guests whooped. Frank led his bride out of the room and down the stairs.
"The tea ceremony is next," Frank said, in a low voice. "I wonder if my dad, Mars will actually show up..."
Hazel giggled. "I wonder if my dad will show up..."
For those who don't know, the tea ceremony is when the bride and groom offer tea to both their elders, parents and close relatives. I'll leave it to your imagination with Mars and Pluto. :-D Thanks for reading!