Brooke suddenly came around two, grin from ear to ear as she ran, not looking where she was going of course, and Ben lifted Riley in front of him and out of the way as Brooke hurtled through her previous path. "Man, it's definitely camp again." Then, Ben's lips quirked up into a smile. "Do you remember last year, when the twins thought cooties were real?"
"They are!" Brooke called, looking back as she almost sprinted into a tree. "And you guys almost kissed to prove it, which was gross, because kissing is basically how cooties were made!"
Riley giggled as Ben's cheeks flushed red again. You brought this upon yourself, Ben.
Joshua grinned broadly, quickly holding onto Freya's shoulders. "Well, guess if I'm infected I can spread them like this, too?" he said, then started laughing when Freya shrieked, ripping herself free and running over Brooke.
"Gross!" she complained, hiding behind Brooke, which looked ridiculous considering she was taller than her sister by like an inch already. "I'm never gonna touch you again!"
"Awesome~" he replied teasingly, loving the twins' reaction way too much. "So are you like going to stay away from all couples and boys from now on? That means ya also can't go near Alex as well from now on, even if you want to know something." It was rather funny at times, because Alex was one of the campers lots of people went to when they wanted to know something. Then again, it wasn't too surprising, because he knew most things that went on at the camp and in the private lives of at least half the campers, though Joshua guessed he got those informations from being friends with so many people at the camp.
He knew that Alex never gave away any secrets, though, which was quite the achievement, seeing as he was friends with Marinette, who loved gossip and rumors.
Freya simply crossed her arms with a frown, still glaring at Joshua from behind Brooke. "That's up to debate. I haven't seen him kiss anybody yet, so he's fine for now," she replied, and it sounded like she was serious about not going near any of them again.
Brooke jutted out her bottom lip, pouting like a young child and stepping next to Freya. "Alex is different, right? He's super smart, he probably has a vaccine or something." She said, nodding like she was completely sure. Ben giggled, but grinned and stepped next to Brooke. She didn't move, just gave him a curious look, and she said, "You haven't kissed anybody, and you're always around Riley. She probably purifies you, right? So.. you're fine?" She guessed, though there was a hint of suspicion in her eyes as she placed a hand on her hip.
Ben scoffed, although it was clearly joking, and an idea popped up in his head. "How do you know I haven't kissed anybody?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe I did yesterday, so there's cooties everywhere within 6 feet of me." He was around 3 feet away from Brooke, and her eyes widened, and he had to stifle laughter as she dove behind a tree a few feet away.
Freya shrieked, racing after Brooke before glaring out suspiciously from behind the tree. "Yeah, Alex is probably immune to it!" she agreed, completely ignoring the fact that they were making their own rules by now. "He's the only one allowed to kiss here if he needs to for whatever gross reason!" In all her hysterics, she completely missed Joshua coughing and saying something like 'What a win for Alex and Asher' under his breath with a grin.
Though, moments later, Joshua shrugged. "Well, have fun with your tree diving. I dunno about you guys, but I'm starving."
Riley laughed. "I was with you all day yesterday." She told her brother teasingly. "I didn't see any boys around you." Her voice was pure amusement, and he grinned back at her, shaking his head.
Ben sighed, rolling his eyes at Riley before nodding at Joshua, biting his lip briefly. "Same. I'm, like, really hungry." He looked at the twins, grinning and saying, "You guys can come, but... We wouldn't want to spread the cooties." He said it in such a grim voice, if somebody didn't know he was joking they probably would've believed him. He then shook his head, smiling at Joshua, Riley, and Manami. "Should we head off?" He asked, looking toward the dining pavilion.
(I finished my super-long notes and I'm waiting for a book to arrive. All I gotta do for that is read it and then write a three sentence summary so that's easy!)
Asher gave one of his usual bright grins at the mention of volleyball, it wasn't his personal favorite but any sport was good to him. "Really? I'd love to see you play sometime." He commented with light hum, he had been on the soccer team all through middle and high school, except for a short break when he tried football out but ended up ditching it after a week.
Percy gave a sigh as last summer was brought up, "Let's just say, it gave me major migraines." He paused for a moment, to think about how to explain what happened. The two of them had mutual respect for each other so he didn't want to sound like a fool for getting captured. "The fleece had gotten stolen and Prue and I got ourselves caught up with more than we could handle. Long story short, we ended up captured so a group was sent off to retrieve the fleece and us." He wanted to put it so he didn't sound out-of-practice, even though he was not by any means, but it wasn't like Nick was Asher who would make fun of him.
Joshua nodded, walking after Ben. "Yep, let's go spread our cooties some more~" he sang, winking at Freya and Brooke. He was having way too much fun with all of this as he waved for Manami to follow him, too.
"You won't see me playing unless I'm in a really good mood, or I'm forced to. Unless you somehow see one of the games at school," Alex replied with a grin. He was serious, though. While he really loved his teammates, he still wasn't too fond of sports or training. Honestly, it did help keep his stamina up, though, which was good, considering he mainly relied on speed when fighting.
-
Nick was quiet for a moment, just staring at the scenery as they walked. Then, he grinned, turning his head back to Percy. "Sounds like fun," he said sarcastically, amber eyes sparkling with sympathy. "Reminds me of the time I almost got killed. Now, that was fun." Nick had a tendency to get into rather... interesting situations. He remembered the time somebody had almost managed to kidnap him during school when he was 13. Getting ambushed was never easy to fight against, so he'd never make fun of anybody for getting kidnapped.
The brunet had been about to ask something, then stopped, grinning. While he looked different, he'd notice that dark blond hair and gray-blue eyes everywhere. He had no idea who the other boy with Alex was, but Nick was never a shy person. "Ain't that Alex?" was all he said to Percy before walking over.
As soon as he got closer, Alex seemed to notice him and a spark or recognition went through his eyes. "Nick, are you really back?" he said excitedly, grinning broadly, which also brought a bright smile to Nick's face. Alex had always had that influence on him.
"I sure am~" he said. "Nice to see you again. I'm sadly not even surprised that you're taller than me now."
Percy muttered an 'oh no' as he saw Asher with his half-brother. Things could either go really well, or get dicey. Though he wasn't sure which he wanted considering Asher being friends with anyone important to him was a bad time in his book. "Nice to be back, huh Alex?" Only greeting him, obviously ignoring Asher who was already grinning widely.
The blonde walked over and put am arm around Percy in a 'friendly' matter. "Aww, already trying to ignore me, Red? You're so cruel~"
To which Percy bit the inside of his cheek, using every ounce of willpower not to slam him into the ground.
Ben laughed as they walked in. "That sound so odd," he said under his breath as he located his table. "Are we sitting, together, or..?" He felt the need to ask, just in case anybody was kind of done with him. After all, he did kind of delay their meal by falling on his face.
Nick smiled at Alex for a moment longer, then glanced over at Asher. He didn't seem intimidated at all that Asher was taller than him, rather, Nick's gaze was calculating, as it usually was when he first met new people. There seemed to be something between him and Percy, though he guessed it was better if he took care of the situation and didn't let Percy get angry.
Sticking his hand out - his left hand at that, a habit which he could never break, as he usually stuck out his dominant hand first - he said, "I haven't seen you here before. I'm Nick Evergreen, nice to meet you."
Alex smiled at that. He'd almost forgotten how confident Nick was. Though, looking at it, he wasn't sure how it would play out, considering he felt like Asher and Nick were both as extroverted and confident as the other. But he still gave a little wave at Percy as he was talked to.
Joshua laughed, shrugging. "As long as the gods don't strike us down," he teased, heading for the plates. He really was hungry, but he was always glad about company while eating. "We can just all sit at the Hecate table. Worst comes to worst and our mom will bewitch you guys with some curse."
Ben took a plate as well, smiling. "A curse?" He scoffed overdramatically, placing a hand on his heart and sighing heavily. "A curse is nothing if I get to sit with you!" His voice was serious, but his facial expression was simply teasing, and contorted into a a huge grin as Manami laughed from behind him.
Asher paused to examine Nick, then gladly let go of Percy to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you~ I'm the one and only Asher Quinn."
Percy moved to stay closer to Nick and Alex rather than Asher. He was thinking about the similarities they both held and it was already giving him a headache,they had a lot in common it just was that Nick didn't make his blood boil. Still, the thought of them getting along was irritating to the red-head.
There was a slight blush on Joshua's face for a second before it disappeared and he grinned, bowing with his plate in hand. "I must agree with you there, good sir," he said before straightening up with a laugh. Joshua packed his plate full, then turned to Manami. "Throw some of your food into the fire there, too. We're supposed to give an offering to our parent before we eat," he explained while scraping some meat off his plate into the fire. He sent a half-hearted prayer to Hecate, then waited for Manami.
Nick shook his hand with a small smile, one that always unnerved Alex. Whenever Nick looked like that, he had found somebody interesting. And Alex wasn't quite sure if he wanted Nick and Asher to actual get some kind of rivalry between them. So, to make sure Nick couldn't try to figure him out more for now, Alex said, "Am I wrong or did you get tanner?"
Nick let go of Asher's hand to look at Alex, shrugging a bit. "Spending my last summers in California as well probably has helped. Not to mention, I actually met more people who drag me to the beach, so hey," he replied with a small laugh. It was easy to figure out that Alex had only asked to get him to stop studying Asher, which was quite amusing to Nick. "Now, a question for you: How much have you improved while I was gone?"
"I really don't feel like fighting you right now," Alex admitted sheepishly, but Nick just nodded, not taking any offense. "Though, I would say I've improved a bit, I guess?" He turned his gaze to Percy, as if asking if what he was saying was true.
Asher raised a brow as he heard Nick speak. "Ohoho, California you say?" He put his sunglasses up so his eyes would no longer be hidden. "What a coincidence, I'm-"
"Alex has improved greatly, I'm proud of him." Percy interrupted, getting back to the conversation, making the blonde pout immaturely in return. The red-head could already see where this would go if Alex and himself didn't steertbe conversation away from it.
Nick raised an eyebrow at Percy's interruption, but didn't comment on it. "I see~ You gotta fight me at one point Alex, and don't worry, I haven't used my dagger in a real match for a while now."
"That doesn't make it better," Alex replied with a small, awkward laugh. "Fighting you is usually a humiliation for me, if I remember correctly." Nick's speed and his offensive tactic and technique just were hard for Alex to deal with. He needed more time to think, even though he thought pretty quickly. Nick's laugh made him smile for real, though.
"Oh come on, I'm not that bad!" Nick replied, sticking out his tongue. Though, he turned his attention back to Asher only moments later. "By the way, what coincidence did you want to talk about?"