These are the surviving-test-pairings: Nico&Percy, Jason&Octavian, Jake&Will, Frank&Leo, Luke&Grover, Drew&Hazel, Rayna&Piper, Juniper&Thalia, Annabeth&Rachel.
The pairs stood in a circle, Chiron in the middle. Chiron was currently going through the rules and how you can survive in the forest for a day.
"The only rule is, no killing. Try not to get lost and watch out for bears." Chiron said. "There are tents in the forest with your names on them, find them and come back tomorrow." Chiron ended and everyone started to walk towards the forest. Percy and Nico walked next to each other towards the woods.
"Where do you think our tent is?" Percy asked excited.
"This map Chiron gave everyone shows were the tents are, so how about we go checkup the closest one?" Nico suggested. After walking around the woods for few hours and finally finding their tent, Percy sat down on the ground with a huff.
"Finally!" Percy huffed. Nico opened the zipper to the tent and put his bag in it. "So, what now?" Nico asked, taking Percy's bag as well and putting it into the tent. The tent was small, green and was placed near the lake, but on the other side of the camp.
"Let's go exploring." Percy smiled, pumping his fist in the air as he started to walk towards the lake. Nico walked slowly after him, watching the surrounds. Percy ran over to the lake and threw a stone in it. Nico sat down on the beach and waited until Percy had gotten enough of throwing stones and rocks into the water.
"Damn that was fun." Percy beamed as he sat down next to Nico.
"Right…" Nico said, laying down on the sand.
"I tried to talk to Annabeth." Percy said after a moment of silence. Nico nodded. "She told me that I was being stupid and that nothing was wrong." Percy finished with a frown.
"Do you believe her?" Nico asked. Percy nodded. "Then there probably isn't anything wrong." Nico stated.
"I hope you're right." Percy smiled.
"Percy! Nico!" someone yelled from the woods. Both boys turned to look at Will who was running towards them, Jake behind him. When Will finally got there, he hid himself behind the duo.
"What's going on?" Percy asked.
"I took his phone because he was texting with it and didn't pay attention to me, and now he is angry." Will said. Nico sighed.
"Isn't that a bit immature?" Nico glanced at Percy, who nodded.
"Give my phone back." Jake said after he arrived, glaring at Will.
"I'll give it if you promise to pay attention to me." Will smiled, throwing the phone in the air and catching it with ease. Jake sighed.
"I don't give a fuck if you're here or not and I'm not gonna do it because you make me." Jake said. Will looked down to the ground a bit hurt by the reply.
"Yeah, you're right and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken your phone or told about my feelings to you. Let's just go back to the tent." Will said, handing the phone over to Jake. Jake snapped it out of Will's hand and marched away. Will sighed and went after him.
"Will haves a crush on Jake, right?" Nico asked, looking at Percy who nodded. "And Jake is a homophobe." Nico stated. The duo started to walk back to their tent, when they suddenly met Grover and Luke.
"Hey guys. Do you know where Jake's and Will's tent is?" Luke asked with a smile that told he was up to no good.
"Yeah, it's near the lake." Nico said. "Why?"
"Well, you know, they've had some problems and we just happened to find a lock, so we decided to lock them in the tent." Luke said with a grin and showed the little metallic lock to them. Percy grinned too.
"Okay, I wanna help you guys with this." Percy said. "And Nico will help too."
"What? I am?"
"Of course. Let's go." Percy said and showed them the way to Will's and Jake's tent. It was starting to get dark and the sun was already setting. Who knew the day would go by this fast? Will was currently sitting outside the tent while Jake was inside it. Percy walked up to them smiling.
"Will, do you have any food left? Nico ate all of ours." Percy said.
Nico walked up to Percy. "I did not. It was you." he smirked at Percy.
"Yeah, I took some extra just in case." Will smiled. He stood up and went in to the tent and when he had reached his bag, Grover and Luke jumped out of the bushes and zipped the tent's door closed. Will turned around, trying to open the door, but it was too late. They had already put the lock on it.
"Guys? This is not funny. Open the door!" Will yelled as he tried to open the zipper.
"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen, not until morning." Luke said. "And now I think we will be going back to our ten—"
"You son of a bitch! Open the fucking door right now!" Jake's voice came from the little tent. Nico laughed and shook his head as he walked back to his own tent, Percy behind him. Grover and Luke went to the other direction.
"Do you think this was a good idea?" Nico asked when they arrived to their own tent.
"It was a brilliant idea." Percy smiled. "Now they have time to talk with each other and I'm sure Jake's just in Narnia."
"In Narnia?" Nico asked as he sat down on his sleeping bag in the tent.
"Yeah, you know, deep inside the closet, very deep." Percy sat down on his own. Nico rolled his eyes. After few hours of eating, talking and telling ghost stories, Nico and Percy turned the light out, closing the door and went to sleep. The moon was making dark shadows on the tent and the wind was howling.
"Ni-Nico? Are you awake?" Percy whispered, turning to look at the boy beside him.
"No, and you shouldn't be either." Nico mumbled, eyes closed.
"Did you hear that?" Percy asked as the wind howled. "What if it was a wolf? Or even worse, a ghost." he asked, hiding himself in his covers.
Nico sighed. "It was just the wind. Now go back to sleep." Nico said, opening his eyes to look at Percy's green ones, which were looking at him, only few inches of air between them.
"I can't."
"What, are you scared?" Nico asked with a chuckle. Percy didn't response. "Okay, so you're scared. Is there any way you wouldn't be?" Nico asked, only wanting to go back to sleep.
"I don't know." Percy admitted sheepishly.
"I should have taken Leo as a partner…" Nico muttered under his breath. "Okay, come here and I will stay awake until you fall asleep." Nico said. Percy moved closer to Nico, and Nico started to play with his hair while waiting for Percy to fall asleep. Boy, it was going to be a long night.
-ʘ_ʘ-
"Guys? This is not funny. Open the door!" Will yelled as he tried to open the zipper.
"Sorry, but not gonna happen, not until morning." Luke said. "And now I just think we will be going back to our ten—"
"You son of a bitch! Open the fucking door right now!" Jake yelled, finally realizing the situation. He was locked in the same tent as his ex-best friend, his bag was outside which meant that his food was also.
"Fucking great." Jake swore.
"Everything's gonna be alright." Will smiled. "You can have some of my food." he continued, offering a bread to Jake.
"I don't want your food." Jake glared.
"I'm gonna bug you until you eat. If you eat, I promise to leave you alone." Will said, throwing the bread and a bottle of water to Jake. Jake mumbled something under his breath as he started to eat the bread. Will smiled to himself as he laid down on the cold floor, because his sleeping bag was outside. Hopefully it wouldn't be a cold night. Will took his guitar, sat up and started to play it and sing.
"…Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow.
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a—"
"Could you please shut up!?" Jake yelled. Will sighed and laid down.
"Why are you acting like that? We are best friends." Will said, turning his blue eyes to look at Jake.
"You're gay." Jake said with disgust.
"So? Are you telling me that you didn't enjoy the kiss at all?"
"Of course I didn't." Jake said, now turning to look at Will.
"Hmm… We could still stop fighting. I've missed your company and I've missed my best friend. Although it's only one day." Will said, sitting up. Jake sighed.
"If you could shut up there would be nothing to fight about." Jake said.
"Okay, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry." When Jake didn't answer, Will closed his eyes feeling few tears roll down onto the cold floor of the tent.
"Good night and sleep well." he told Jake and after a moment whispered the same words to himself.
Will woke up to the sun streaming through the fabric of the tent and felt surprisingly warm. He opened his eyes to see an arm wrapped around his waist and half of Jake's opened sleeping bag on him. He turned around and looked at Jake who was holding him. Will knew it was wrong to enjoy the closeness he had with the other boy, but he didn't have the heart to wake him up, or to move away for that matter. Soon though, Jake opened his eyes and looked down at Will, who had his eyes closed.
"What the fuck?" Jake snapped as he took his hand away and moved away from the blond boy. Will slowly opened his eyes and sat up too.
"Good morning." he said, offering a weak smile.
"So, uh… Do you know if the lock has been removed yet?" Jake asked after calming down. Last night Jake made a promise to try to be nicer to Will, because he knew how it felt being treated that way. Will shook his head and looked at the door. Just when he was about to reach for the zipper, they could both hear footsteps and voices coming towards them. After a few minutes, the door was opened and fresh air came rushing inside. On the outside stood a smirking Luke and Grover.
"Slept well?" Luke smirked, throwing the lock into the air and catching it.
-ʘ_ʘ-
When the surviving-test was finally over, everybody walked back to their own cabins. Nico sighed in relief as he let the warm water of the shower pour over him. He opened the bottle of shampoo and poured a good amount of it on his palm. After he had rubbed the mango scent shampoo into his hair, he washed it off. When he was ready with the shower, Nico put a towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom. He was alone in his cabin for the moment, so he decided to put on his boxers and dark skinny jeans. Just when he had gotten his hands on a clean, white t-shirt, someone knocked on the door. Not caring that he didn't have the shirt on, Nico opened the door. Percy and Annabeth stood on the other side of the door, both having a little blush on their cheeks.
"Yeah?" Nico put his shirt on.
"Uuh… We came to tell you that the campfire starts earlier today. It starts after five minutes." Annabeth said blushing. Percy looked over at Annabeth's blush, but decided to hold his mouth and not say a thing. It wasn't every day you saw your girlfriend blushing over another guy.
"Let me put my shoes on and I can come with you." Nico said, flashing a little smile to Percy.
"So, how did your surviving-test go?" Annabeth asked when they started to walk towards the area where the campfire took place. Nico glanced at Percy who was looking at him wide-eyed, begging him not to tell about the night.
"It was fine." Nico replied. "What about yours?"
"Well, I was paired with Rachel, you know that redhead? Anyway, she seemed nice and we talked the whole day about boys and other stuff girls do." Annabeth smiled.
"Sounds… interesting." Nico said just before they arrived to the campfire. He went to sit next to Luke, who was waiving at him, and was surprised when Annabeth sat next to him. Nico felt a little bit uncomfortable when the girl started to talk to him.
"…And then she told me that 12x12 is 104 and I was like 'no way, it is 144'. Can you believe that?" Annabeth ended.
"No, and shouldn't you be spending a bit more of your attention on Percy?" Nico asked.
"No, I think he lives without the little attention I pay for him. So, tell me something about yourself." Annabeth said moving his hand to rest on Nico's thigh. Nico smirked and leaned closer to Annabeth, so he could whisper something in her ear. The blonde girl was making it too oblivious that she was trying to hit on Nico.
"I'm gay." he whispered and drew back, turning to talk to Luke on his right side. Annabeth frowned and turned to Percy, who was looking at the ground with a sad smile.
"Percy, how have you been?" she asked turning her scowl into a sweet smile.
"I… I think we need to talk. Again." Percy said, turning to look at her. She stood up and motioned Percy to follow her to a place where no one could hear them.
"What's wrong?" she asked concerned.
"I don't like it when you are flirting with others. It almost feels like you're cheating on me." Percy said, taking Annabeth's hands in his owns. Annabeth looked at Percy with guilt.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kiss Luke, but—"
"What? You kissed Luke?" Percy cut her off.
"You didn't know? Then what are you talking about?" Annabeth asked.
"I was talking about how you tried to hit on Nico!" Percy yelled, feeling angry.
"Oh… You were talking about that one. Well, there's nothing to worry about. He's gay."
"The point is that you cheated on me!"
"Percy, I think it's better if we broke up." Annabeth said, freeing her hands from Percy's tight grip.
"Yeah, let's do that. I'm sorry that I wasn't enough for you." Percy said and walked away from her. He walked pass the campfire, tears threatening to fall as he made his way to his cabin.
A/N
Sorry for the long wait, but I've been kind of busy… So, I'm moving in with my grandparents because of school and I had this chapter ready for a while, but it didn't feel right.
Anyway, I hate Windows 8 and my new fuck*ng computer. I couldn't continue to write this chapter because of it and had to borrow my sister's mini-laptop.
The song I used is "Mad world" by I-don't-remember-who, but I listened to Adam Lambert's version of it.
Please review!=)