Essential Circuitry

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Camp Rock or the Jonas Brothers. Camp Rock belongs to Disney and the Jonas Brothers belong to themselves.

Characters: Shane, Nate and Jason

Words: 1, 718

Author's Notes: I have to apologise again for being so AWOL on this. Work has been dead crazy lately and I've also been struck down by the flu. Not very fun but I told myself I had to write this today because you all deserve at least that much. Hope I am forgiven for my ridiculous delay!

…so, I hurried myself last night and stayed up extra late to complete this only to hop on line and find FFnet down. -.-' But, without further delays, here it is!

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Shane led Nate down through the words, using the path him and Jason had mentally created. Dodging the odd tree or five, Shane paused when they reached a particularly rocky part, the shape of each rock difficult to define in the near total darkness. Jumping onto the first flat rock, he turned back and held out a hand to Nate, not wanting the younger boy to stumble and fall. To his surprise, Nate merely raised an incredulous eyebrow before jumping down confidently, making his way through the debris without a single hesitation.

Shane watched the young guitarist, suspicion once again flaring up in his mind. No one with balance that good could trip while simply walking. No, he was sure of it now: Nate had been pushed.

That led to a whole series of different questions in his mind. Who was pushing Nate over? Why would they even want to? How long had this been happening?

And maybe, most importantly, why hadn't Nate told him? Why had he lied?

"…Shane?"

The hesitant call recaptured his attention and he found his new friend to be standing at the bottom waiting for him nervously, shifting from foot to foot.

"I…I can go if you don't want me," Nate mumbled, already starting to retrace his steps, taking Shane's lack of following to mean the elder boy had changed his mind.

"No!" Shane said hastily, flying down the path. "Sorry, I just got thinking. But no, seriously, I want you to come with me. And trust me, Jason will want you to come too. He's a pretty cool guy."

"He talks about birds," Nate said, using such a tone that Shane couldn't tell if he thought it a good thing or a bad thing.

"Oh, he does more than just talk about them," Shane laughed, beckoning his cabin mate on with a finger. "He'll chase 'em, watch 'em, look after 'em, and whatever else you can do with them."

Nate chose to remain silent on that and simply followed Shane dutifully, memorising the path they were walking down, feeling as though it might be useful to do so. After all, if worst came to worst and he got separated from his new friends, he'd like to at least know how to get back to the camp site. It was logical.

"Well, okay," Shane said slowly, pausing and turning a complete three sixty. "We usually hang out somewhere around here but…"

There was no need to finish that sentence because the clearing was entirely empty. Obviously, Jason was not there.

"Maybe he's-"

Nate never got to finish because, at the point, Jason came barrelling in between them, causing the pair to jump about a mile in the air, completely startled. Their friend's hair was sticking up slightly and a wide grin was spread over his face. He was all but bouncing with excitement.

"Hey Shane, you'll never believe wha-…Nate? What are you doing here?" Jason tilted his head in confusion, glancing between Shane and aforementioned cabin mate.

Shane simply shrugged, ignoring how Nate suddenly appeared nervous again. "I asked him to come with me. That's cool, isn't it?"

Jason's eyes lit up even in the darkness. "Definitely!" he exclaimed. "Let me tell you," he started grandly, slinging an arm over Nate's shoulder and dragging him along as he walked. "Shane may be a lot of things, but using his eyesight is definitely not one of them. Half the time, when he yells out about seeing an owl, it's really a pinecone."

"I…" Nate, as casually as possible, slipped out of the friendly arm that was stretched across his shoulders – something that didn't escape Shane's notice. "I don't think I'll be able to help much either. I've never even seen an owl. Well, not in real life. I've seen them in books and on tv and things like that…but never a real one."

"Oh don't worry about that," Jason said airily, waving a hand flippantly. "They're not really all that hard to spot. Come on, let's see if we can find one!"

Nate looked between Jason and Shane but Jason was already leaping away and Shane was grinning at him like a lunatic. Something about the fifteen-year-old's grin was infectious though and Nate couldn't help but return, albeit only in the form of a small smile. The action seemed enough to appease Shane and he scooted after Jason, enticingly gesturing for Nate to follow.

The three of them hunted through the darkness, often pausing to listen for any hoots before deciding on a direction change. Nate was absolutely confident that half the times when Jason claimed to hear something, he was really making it up but the older boy was adamant that he was actually hearing what he said he was. Shane just shrugged helplessly and went along with it. Clearly, he was used to this routine and rather sporadic behaviour.

Nate estimated they must have been unsuccessfully hunting for a good hour and a half before they decided to troop back to their cabin. Jason was particularly depressed at not being able to spot an owl, something he was then going to point out to Nate, gifting the boy with the pleasure of seeing a real owl. Shane was merely enjoying the chance to be outside, humming and singing as he ran through the trees with his friends, encouraging the other two into conversation with him. While still significantly the most reserved of the three, Nate was at least now starting to answer questions as well as ask a few of his own. Shane himself was amazed by how much progress they had made in a single night.

"Hey guys!" Jason suddenly said, stopping dead in his tracks. "I bet if we looked up at the sky, we could make a constellation that looked like a bird!"

"There're more than enough stars to use," Nate said dryly, making Shane snort in amusement.

"Sure Jason," he agreed, waiting for Nate to nod before continuing. "Why don't we head down to the piers? There're no trees to get in the way there, plus the lake is always really cool."

"I am so there!" Jason exclaimed, not even waiting for them before taking off.

Shane was right on his heels though, flinging a call over his shoulder to his youngest friend. Nate ran after them, not wanting to lose his friends in the darkness. Being smaller had its advantages, as it meant he was able to slip under trees and dodge things far easier than Shane and Jason, something that had him arriving at the lake shore only seconds after Shane, despite the older boy's head start. Exchanging a shy smile, Nate paused for just a second before jumping up onto the pier and chasing after Jason. Shane had just joined him when a loud splash suddenly shattered the relative silence.

Glancing down at the end of the pier, both boys quickly realised that Jason was no longer in sight. They downright sprinted to the end of the pier, throwing themselves to their knees at the end. As they looked down, a confused Jason stared back up at them.

"I don't remember the pier being that short!" Jason declared indignantly.

Shane burst out laughing, flopping down onto the wood. "It's always been this short dude. It's just funny that you've never noticed!"

"Ha ha," Jason pouted, swimming towards them. "Help me up?"

"No way," Shane scoffed, instead getting to his feet and kicking off his shoes. "I'm coming in!"

That was the only warning that was given before Shane dive-bombed in, Jason screaming as he was splashed, Nate crying out also, water splashing up at him and saturating his clothes. Jason soon recovered from his shock though and started a water fight. The two boys busied themselves with that while Nate happily observed from the pier. This didn't go unnoticed by Shane.

"Nate, come in!" he called, paddling back over.

"No thanks," Nate replied, shaking his head. "I'm…I'm not really good at swimming."

"We won't let you drown," Jason huffed, looking offended.

"He's right," Shane said, voice softer. "So come on, come in. Please?"

Sighing heavily, Nate threw his eyes skyward before getting to his feet. Untying his shoes and slipping off his t-shirt, leaving him in only his undershirt and jeans, Nate jumped in, gasping as the cold water engulfed him. He came up spluttering but also with a smile on his face. Shane was beaming back at him, opening his mouth to speak when another voice cut him off.

"And here I was, about to commend Nate on his choice to not participate in rule breaking. It appears now that I was wrong."

All three boys whipped their heads up to see Brown staring down at them, his arms crossed and expectantly waiting for an answer.

"Hey Uncle Brown!" Shane said cheerily, swimming over. "What brings you out here so late?"

"Hmm, I wonder," was the sarcastic reply. "Maybe it's three young rule-breakers. Swimming in the lake after lights out is not allowed."

"We're sorry," Nate mumbled, moving to the ladder and clambering up slowly.

Shane shot Brown a pointed look as he climbed up after his friend, picking up his shoes from the ground. "It's not his fault. Jason kind of fell in, and then I jumped in, and then I talked Nate into jumping in too."

"And yet you all did it in the end, not matter how accidentally," Brown said.

"But-"

"No buts!" Brown interrupted, holding up a hand and gesturing for silence. "Now, as punishment you three are going to be up bright and early for kitchen duty tomorrow. However, seeing as how this is your first offence, I'll let you off with tomorrow only, how's that sound?"

"It sounds great Camp Director Brown," Jason answered, nodding sheepishly. "We're really sorry."

"Good, now you three, off! To bed. Now!"

They nodded in unison before taking off, flying back to their cabin as fast as they could in wet clothes. Once back in Cabin Coda, they all gratefully changed into their warm, dry pajamas, hanging their wet clothes up to dry. Nate had just finished helping Jason hang up the last of his things when Shane decided to speak up.

"I think we should perform in the Camp Fire Jam together."

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A/N: I know that this chapter too might move a little fast, but, as I said earlier, I'm really struggling with this and I'm just finding it hard to write at the moment. Still, I do put my heart into every chapter and I, personally, am quite pleased with this chapter. So let me know if you are, and tell me what you think in a review. You guys are awesome!

DG777