SOLANGELO

Part 5 whoa

As they approached the campfire, Chiron had just begun to speak.

"Demigods! Settle down!" ordered Chiron. "I know it has been a while since we played any games, and I figure we all have had our share of monster fighting in the past week, so I figured for tonight's game, we could ease back into it. We are having a scavenger hunt."

The whoops and hollers from the Greeks and Romans almost broke Nico's eardrum, but the noise soon subsided. Chiron gestured for everyone to be quiet.

"However, we don't want to make things too easy for you, so there will be monsters that you must either avoid or kill, but the main goal is still to find the items on this list. Look under your seats." Sure enough, there were small, handwritten lists of items in the forest underneath every chair.

"I hope you have found your partners," said Chiron. Will grinned at Nico, but the son of Hades didn't notice. "The rules are as follows: no hiding any of the items, no hurting other campers, and you must stay inside the woods at all times unless you have found every item on that list. Go!"

Will and the other campers began to run into the woods, but Will had to turn back. Nico was sitting, reading the list.

"What are you doing? Let's go!"

"Dude, chill. I want to read the list first because I already know where everything is. We need a plan."

"How do you know where everything is?"

"I spend a lot of time in the woods." Will thought this was a bit strange, but just nodded his head.

"Alright, but hurry."

As soon as Nico finished planning, he ran straight towards the woods. Will followed. Nico was right, planning did help, thought Will as Nico found almost every single thing on the list.

"Wait," ordered Nico, leaning against a tree.

"What's wrong?"

"This isn't right. Orchids are the last thing on this list, and they're supposed to be right here. This is where they always are, unless someone took it."

"Stoll," they both said at the same time.

Nico balled his fists and kicked the leaves on the ground.

"Hey, it's ok, man. You did your best and we can just go look for it," Will said, trying to calm Nico down.

"I'm just pissed. My best is never good enough," Nico said sliding down against the tree. Will sat down next to him, his leg only two inches away from Nico's. Will realized he noticed this and immediately felt embarassed. He only hoped that Nico couldn't see him blush.

"Hey, your best got us almost done. I'm sure we are way ahead of every other team," Will said, trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah, ok." Nico still didn't look happy, but he got a little giddy when he realized how close Will's leg was to his. Without thinking, Nico gently pushed himself up using Will's knee. When he realized what he had done, he wanted to kick himself, but when Will didn't look upset (excited maybe, but Nico wasn't going to push his luck with thoughts like that) he took this as a really good sign.

"Alright. If I was Connor or Travis, where would I hide the orchids?" Nico wondered out loud.

Will looked around. His eyes focused on a cave slightly hidden by some bushes. He pointed. "There," he said. Nico looked and smiled.

"Solace, you are one smart boy," said Nico.

"Hey, I'm a man," Will said, pushing out his chest. Nico laughed and nudged him. Will tried to ignore the tingle that went up his arm when Nico touched it. They started walking toward the cave. As they brushed aside the bushes, they heard a growl.

"Shit," Nico muttered. They started backing away. A wolf came out of the cave. Nope, scratch that. Not one, but three wolves came out of the cave. Nico reached out to touch Will's arm. Once again, they both tried to ignore the tingle that went throughout their bodies.

"Run?" Will whispered.

"Run," Nico replied. And the two boys ran. The wolves chased after them for what felt like an eternity. Finally, when they couldn't hear the wolves anymore, they stopped, hands on their knees, catching their breath.

"I think we lost them," Nico said, panting.

"Great. Um, where are we, exactly?" Will asked as he stood up. He couldn't see anything. It was pitch black.

"I don't know. I think we ran so far into the woods, that even I have never been here." Nico went to stand next to Will, for comfort purposes only, of course.

"Well, how in Hades do we get back?" stammered a very worried Will. Truth be told, Nico thought Will was adorable when he was worried.

"Um, I could shadow travel us back?"

"No. No shadow traveling for you. Doctor's orders."

"Well, then we are stuck." Nico sat down.

Suddenly, an idea hit him like a lightning bolt. "Hey, you can glow, right? We can use you as a light and figure a way out of here!"

Will scratched his head. "Yeah, but I only glow when I'm happy. And right now, I ain't too happy."

"Then be happy."

"It's not that easy! Plus, I am very frightened right now."

"Then how do you become happy when you need to?"

"Man, I don't know. It just happens. You do something to make me happy because I cant think of anything."

Nico did something even he didn't expect to happen. He stood up and kissed Will right on the cheek. Almost immediately, Will began to glow.

Nico stood right in front of him. Will's wide, surprised, but very happy eyes were the size of the moon. Just as beautiful as the moon, too. Seeing Will react this way made Nico smirk.

"Happy now?" Will just nodded. He then coughed and shook his head.

"Come on. Let's just get back to camp. I have a feeling it's gotten pretty late," Will said calmly, though his thoughts were still centered around the kiss. It was just a peck, and it might have been just a friendly one, but the way Nico looked right now, embarassed and perhaps a bit regretful, counteracted the thought of the kiss being just "friendly".

The boys walked in silence, Will still a burning ball of pure sunshine. Occasionally, their arms brushed, but they both tried to ignore it, although at the same time, they both wanted to eliminate the space between them altogether.