#demigod!hyunjin | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

beautifulchris · 2 years ago

Text

of darkness and rainbows

pairing: demigod!lee felix x fem demigod!reader

featuring: han jisung, hwang hyunjin, sf9's dawon, golden child's bomin, nct's doyoung

summary: a demigod au in which you enter the camp after losing your mom, and you swear to yourself you'll avenge her no matter what

genres: demigod!au, s2f2l!au, mutual pining, slowburn, action, fantasy, adventure, greek mythology, romance, mild fluff, angst

tw: monsters, parental abandonment, death of a mother and a brother, murder, blood, physical injuries, use of weapons (swords, knives, bow and arrow), VIOLENCE, nightmares, grief and loss depiction, battle scenes, monster and creature slaying, mild language, fainting, magic, ghost

rating: +16

wc: 12,7k

notes: wow. this is my longest work yet and i'm proud of it, please let me know what you think!!

networks: @kflixnet @k-labels @whipped-kpop-creators

permanent tag list: @badwithten send an ask/dm/comment to be added!

one.

It was the end of June, and your mom said a trip to Long Island —you’d never heard of that place before— would be the greatest gift she could offer you for your twelfth birthday. You didn’t believe her after she gifted you an agate necklace, your favorite stone.

Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the trip you’d imagined.

After getting to Montauk, and spending a few hours on the beach, she drove north. You then walked up what you thought was a random hill. When you were almost on top, you turned towards your mom to tell her you wanted to go back, that you’d rather go home and watch a movie. She was sobbing. It took you aback and broke your heart to see her that way. You wanted to hug her so badly.

She grabbed the backpack she had over her shoulders and put the handle in your hands.

“You must go further north, alright? You’ll find someone who can help you,” she instructed as she kneeled in front of you, stroking your face affectionately.

“What are you talking about, mom? I don’t want to go anywhere without you.”

“It’s going to be alright, sweetheart. You have to trust me. You’re so special, you don’t realize how much. You must go on your own path now. It’s time.” Her voice cracked a little. “Go, you’ll be safe there.”

“This doesn’t make any sense…” you mumbled and stood your ground.

“Maybe because your mommy failed to mention why you’re here,” an icy voice said, making you flinch. Your mom quickly got up and put a protective hand on your shoulder, “and why you’re both going to die today.”

“You’re too late. My daughter will live.”

A light yet threatening laugh left the woman’s throat. She was extremely beautiful, but there was something wrong with her. Not physically, it was more of a feeling.

“We’ll see about that.”

As the woman charged, your mom pushed you out of the way.

“Run!” she yelled as she shielded you with her whole body, turning her back on the woman. You didn’t want to leave her but what could you do? You ran as fast as you could to the top of the hill, still being able to hear what was happening behind you.

“I’m Keahi,” the woman said as she grasped your mom’s arm and forced her to spin so that they faced each other. “Might as well know my name, since I’m the last person you’ll ever see, mortal. You’re going to die knowing it was for nothing.”

You only turned around when you heard a sharp gasp.

You watched helplessly as your mom’s limp body fell to the ground with a loud thud. The woman had blood dripping from her hand— no, her claws. It dawned on you that she had murdered your mom and you were next. You turned around and resumed your sprint. Due to your fear and teary eyes, you realized too late that now that you were at the top, you’ll be going down.

You braced yourself as you could for the fall. Your body got scratches from a few low branches and brambles. When you arrived at the bottom of the hill, you looked up to see if the woman had followed.

It wasn’t the beautiful woman you saw earlier anymore, she had flaming hair, white skin and glowing red eyes. You could only see her head, but it was enough to get nightmares. She bared her fangs and turned around, like she couldn’t get to you anymore.

You tried to breathe but it came out ragged, hands shaking and lips trembling. The sun was heating up your skin. The birds were chirping happily while the despair you were feeling was starting to become unbearable as you clutched at your sides. Tears were streaming down your face, blurring your vision. Not that you had much to look at, anyway, except trees.

You closed your eyes and before you could register what was going on, a paradise appeared before them. There was grass, trees, farm animals, a waterfall and sky in different rainbow colors, plus a rainbow in the background. It obviously wasn’t real, but for some reason the colors perfectly matched. It made you feel at ease. A drastic change from the state you were in mere seconds ago. It momentarily made you forget about it, the sight filling you up with warmth and peace. It only lasted a couple minutes, although by now you breathed normally again, tears dried up.

When you opened your eyes and turned around, you could see a huge amphitheater in the distance, a volleyball court and… were these strawberry fields? Off the corner of your eye, you caught sight of a boy smiling sheepishly, seated a few meters away from you. Blinking a few times, you let out a long sigh.

“Are you okay?” the boy asked in a raspy voice.

It doesn’t match his angelic face, you thought.

He had freckles, a fair and soft skin, short blond hair and brown eyes. He was wearing an orange t-shirt, shorts and sneakers.

You nodded, getting up painfully. Your limbs felt sore, the cuts on your face and arms started to ache.

“I can bring you to the infirmary if you want.”

Maybe you shouldn’t have trusted him right away. Maybe he was with the monster. But he didn’t look evil. He didn’t feel evil, either. So, you followed.

“I hope my illusion helped you feel a tad better.”

“What I saw when I closed my eyes, you did this?”

“Yeah. I’ve been practicing.”

He had a peaceful aura that calmed you down instantly. He was so sweet with you, but all you could think of was: what did you do to deserve this kindness? You had just abandoned your mom to her death.

“Why?” You were trembling, and your voice was just above a whisper.

“Why what?”

“Why did you create this illusion?”

“Oh. You looked like you needed a cheer up.”

A surge of gratefulness engulfed you and you smiled.

“Thank you.”

“I heard voices over the hill and when I came, I saw you falling down. There was a monster at the top.”

Your smile disappeared. “I— she killed my mom.”

Eyes widening, the blond boy internally slapped himself for making you sad all over again after all his efforts to make you feel better. “I’m sorry.”

You arrived at the infirmary after a few minutes of awkward silence, and quiet amazement on your part at the amphitheater you could see more clearly, the pavilion full of white tables, more than twenty houses differently decorated and a hearth in the center, even an arena, with kids and teens from different ages all around.

A brown haired guy was tending to a sleeping kid around your age, bruises, cuts and burns all around their face and arms. They were wearing jean overalls with an orange t-shirt, all covered in soot from head to toe.

“Jisung!” the boy next to you called as soon as he spotted him.

“One sec,” he replied without looking up. He brought the teen’s head up with one hand and poured some amber liquid down their throat with the other. He rested their head back delicately on the mattress, got up and turned around to greet the newcomers.

“Hi F— Wow, hey there! Sit here,” he motioned toward an empty bed, “I’ll be right back.” He left through a door made of white sheets.

“Do I really look that bad?”

The blond boy chuckled, slowly shaking his head. “By the way, I didn’t give you my name. I’m Felix.”

You looked up at him, managing a side smile. “I’m Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.”

You didn’t have time to answer that Jisung was back with medicine. He cautiously cleaned your wounds with the same yellowish liquid he used to treat the other kid. It felt like he was treating you like porcelain.

Then, he brought a golden cube up to your mouth.

“What is this?”

“A bit of ambrosia. It heals demigods, but too much can have bad side effects.”

Demigods??

“Eat it, you’ll feel better.”

Whatever.

With newfound trust in strangers, you chewed on the sweet food. It tasted like the mac’n’cheese your mom would make on rainy days. The memory comforted you, but also induced some pain within. Your wounds started to fade until they were completely healed.

“Thank you,” you murmured, in awe at the product. You definitely needed this stuff.

“Of course, it’s my job,” he beamed. “So, Felix,” he turned to his friend, “where did you find this stray kid? Tell me you didn’t go on a little quest on your own—”

“I found Y/N near the border, she’s new,” he interrupted him.

You were thankful he let out the details of your encounter.

“Oh, my bad! I guess you have to take her to the Big House, then.”

He nodded, extending his hand your way. You stared at it, then at the freckled boy, then back at it. Taking it slowly, he walked you to the Big House, which lived up to its name. You choked when you saw a centaur —an actual centaur?!— walking out of the front door.

“Greetings, Chiron!”

Chiron? From the legends??

“Felix. Welcome to the camp half-blood, young lady. I’m Chiron, activities director. Have you been claimed already?”

“Huh…”

“I didn’t see anything,” Felix answered. “I see. Perhaps we’ll know tonight at the campfire. Can you show our new recruit around? I’m off to archery class.”

“Sure.”

He thanked Felix, sent a smile your way and galloped away to the west. The realization you were still holding the boy’s hand made you blush, but before you could retract it, he pulled you with him to different places.

He explained the purpose of the strawberry fields and the society name —Delphi Strawberry Service— covering the camp. He showed you the climbing wall with lava, the dining pavilion, the forge full of Hephaestus kids, the armory —he tried to make you choose a weapon but you refused—, the Pegasus stables —with actual pegasi!—, the arena where demigods trained, the archery field where Chiron was teaching, the camp store —you could buy an orange t-shirt there later—, the arts & crafts center —you saw a beautiful black-haired boy painting there among other kids—, the canoe lake, the forest— you weren’t keen on entering after Felix told you what was in it. You finished the tour next to the hearth in the center of the houses you saw earlier. You could swear you saw a woman in the fire, but when you looked more closely, she was gone.

He explained everything except the reason why you were here in the first place. “This is all charming and interesting, but why am I here?”

“I was getting to that. These are the cabins of the major Greek gods and some of the minor ones. Here,” he gestured to the most colorful cabin out of the bunch, “is my mom’s, Iris, goddess of rainbows.”

It explained the illusion. The cabin looked like a huge trailer with a platform on the front and a little rainbow as antenna. It looked chill and welcoming.

Felix gave you the names of all the gods and goddesses’ cabins present on this camp, making hypotheses on who your dad might be.

“Do you like mechanics? Are you good at poetry or archery? Or swords? Do you enjoy grape juice? Maybe you’re a trickster? Do you enjoy sleeping? I mean, do you spend most of your time sleeping? Can you control light? If none of those… Maybe you’re a child of one of the Big Three.”

“Who are the Big Three?”

“Zeus —god of the sky—, Poseidon —god of the sea— and Hades —god of the dead and king of the Underworld.”

You pondered. “This is a dream. I’m gonna wake up.”

He chuckled —an endearing sound— and shook his head. “I think I’d know if it was one. No, you’re a demigod, Y/N. For real.”

When you didn’t respond, he glanced at you. You were lost in thought, wondering who your father could be, why you’ve never seen him before and why he never came to see you.

“Come on, there’s one more thing I’d like you to see.” He tugged at your hand and dragged you towards the beach.

The sun was setting. You sat on the sand, looking at the horizon. It was really pretty. But you couldn’t avoid reality for too long. A tear fell down your face thinking about how your mom would’ve loved coming here, looking at this scenery with an arm around your frame.

She was gone.

From this moment, you swore to yourself that, when you were ready, you would find the monster and avenge your mom, no matter what. Felix saw your determined eyes staring in the distance. It gave him an idea on who your father might be.

At the campfire, you realized a lot more campers than you initially thought were here. You’ve seen a bunch during the tour, but right now, when the whole camp was gathered around the fire, it felt like you were a couple hundred.

Some had musical instruments and were preparing for what you guessed was a concert. A dozen, more or less, were looking all dressed up and pretty, a few were playing with balls of energy —magic?—, others were dozing off wherever, from another kid’s shoulder to the floor. The rest looked somewhat normal, apart from the kids with hands partially tainted with soot. Might be tough to get rid of it when they spend so much time in the forges.

Some kids greeted Felix and welcomed you into the camp, which felt nice. Although you couldn’t remember every name, you were grateful for their kind words.

It seemed that the Apollo cabin was actually preparing for a singalong. Everyone sang, cheered and overall had a good time. Felix nudged you from time to time to check up on you and offer you bright smiles. So bright, in fact, that they were almost blinding. But you didn’t mind. His sole presence was enough to give you peace of mind. Maybe because looking at him reminded you of the illusion he created for you.

The campers were asking for an encore, when silence abruptly fell and every pair of eyes were on you. Or above you, to be precise, but it felt the same to you.

Exposed, vulnerable and embarrassed.

You glanced at Felix, who was looking up too. He lowered his gaze, locked eyes with you and motioned for you to look up as well. It was a glowing golden helm hologram suspended above your head.

“The bloodline is determined. Hades, king of the Underworld. Hail Y/N L/N, daughter of the dead and riches.”

Every camper kneeled, including Chiron and Felix, and you wanted to disappear from the Earth. Was it just because you ended up being a child of the Big Three? Or did every camper have the privilege of experiencing such a stressful moment?

At last, they all got up and resumed the singalong for a well-deserved encore.

An older guy walked to you from a corner. He was tall, had dark eyes and a harsh resting face. You recoiled in your seat, scared of what he might do. But then he showed a toothy smile with dimples and extended his hand for you to shake.

When you did, he said: “Welcome home, sis.”

Once alone in your bunk —you had slipped away before the end of the campfire— you sobbed, hugging the backpack your mom put in your hands earlier that day.

It smelled like her.

Calming down a bit, curiosity took over and you opened it. There was a pocket knife, pepper spray, a pack of matches, a flashlight, tissues, a sleeping bag, a water bottle and food.

It struck you. She knew what you were long before you did.

two.

Felix shouldn’t have laughed.

The whole scene was just so ridiculously funny, he had to.

You were training at the climbing wall like every other day, except today, someone had the good idea to change the mode from normal to full lava-and-earthquake while you were on it. Needless to say it took you by surprise. You fell to the bottom, earning smoking holes in your t-shirt and singed arms' hair.

Felix helped you get out of the lava floor, miserably trying to suppress his giggles. “Are you okay?”

“Who turned the climbing wall into a frenzy? I just wanna talk!”

Your eyes showed you were being serious, although a little smile appeared after looking at your best friend’s face.

Turns out it was a Hermes kid, obviously.

To get back at him, you created a hole under his feet. He screamed as he sank up to his ankles. He lost balance and fell on his butt. A few kids that fell off the climbing wall with you clapped their hands and laughed.

Oh yeah, my bad. I forgot to tell you you could do that, among other things.

Being at Camp Half-Blood year round was actually a great thing. Undeniably, between that and being with your mom, the choice was clear, but since she was gone… All you could do was train to be able to protect mortals like you should’ve protected your mom and avenge her as well.

I know what some may think. It wasn’t your fault (and it wasn’t. really.) but you couldn’t make peace with it just yet. Guilt still ate you up at night.

After understanding what it meant to be a kid of Hades, you tried to find and talk to your mom. A ghost appeared instead of her. It looked like a staff member, with greek armor and a formal look. He told you your mom was in Elysium, that ‘she wanted you to follow your own path’ and that ‘she didn’t want to see you until you were old and had a full life’. It felt so unfair. You tried to argue but the ghost didn’t stay to hear your complaints, leaving you in your grief.

You ended up entering the armory. Even if you were against violence, you came to terms with the fact that you couldn’t protect others by solely making holes on the ground. Felix showed you all the best pieces of celestial bronze weapons. He made you try on several, making you swing swords, throw knives, shoot arrows… It was unsure what would suit you best.

At last, your eyes caught sight of a dusty black metal in a corner, behind javelins. Dusting off the sword a bit, you felt like it belonged in your hand. It wasn’t too heavy, nor too light. It just felt right.

“It’s stygian iron,” Felix explained, “Hades’ own sword is made of it.”

Did you resent him? Probably… yeah. If he had been there, two years ago, he could’ve saved your mom. But you never saw him, ever. You often wondered if you were even worthy of his presence.

“Y/N?”

Your head shot up, “yeah?”

“You looked out of it. Are you okay? We can stop looking for weapons if you want.”

“No, I’m good. I’ll take this one.” It hasn’t left your side ever since.

Felix proposed to train together. It was fun, both of you ending up at the infirmary more often than not. Jisung was always there to treat your wounds while cracking jokes.

Dawon, the Hades’ cabin’s head counselor that scared you on your first night, was actually really cool. He showed you around the cabin, welcomed you like a true sibling. You enjoyed eating with your siblings at the dining pavilion, talking strategies and kicking ass during capture-the-flag and chariot races, chatting before bed and getting ready together in the mornings.

Other than that, you didn’t spend a lot of time with them. No, Felix was practically attached to your hip at this point. He has been a huge pillar to your recovery. If it wasn’t for him and his bright aura, you would’ve been morose and sad. He probably knew that too.

When you passed by the arts & crafts building, you often saw the pretty boy. The sun would often reflect on his face, making his skin glow. His stance was elegant, his features soft and flawless. He had sunlight in his shoulder-length black hair and his long fingers seemed to be working effortlessly against the canvas. In a way, watching him paint for a while was relaxing. Curiosity always got the best of you as you wanted to see his next art piece.

All you knew about him was that he was a child of Aphrodite and an amazing painter.

three.

“I did not sign up for this!” you grunted, slashing your sword across monsters left and right.

“You didn’t sign anything,” Jisung recalled, twirling to avoid a clawed hand and slaying the monster with an arrow in its chest.

“It feels like, no matter how much we kill, there’s always more,” Felix puffed.

Hopefully he was pretty good with a sword, because he couldn’t rely on his mom’s powers in the darkness. After what felt like an eternity, the last monster was slayed by your sword.

“Alright, enough practice. Let’s head back before more monsters arrive,” you offered. They didn’t protest.

You were all worn out, sweating and breathing hard. The trip in the forest left very few monsters left to slay. Whoever took care of that would have some work to do.

“We managed pretty well, didn’t we?” Jisung grinned, eyes half closed. You nodded while Felix agreed.

It was practically nightfall. At seventeen, you were more trained than ever and felt ready to face the world.

The next day, there was an emergency meeting with Chiron and the head counselors. Everyone saw them hastily leave the dining pavilion during breakfast after Argus came running to them.

A few dozen minutes later, you were summoned to the Big House. You entered the meeting room and sat next to Dawon around the ping-pong table. Chiron didn’t waste any time and recited the unprompted prophecy they had heard by the current Oracle.

Child of Underworld must retrieve their father’s accessory

Magnificent Mile holds a piece of the way back in its last breath

The King’s circle’s won by defeating an old vampire enemy

The last challenge in Yellowstone ends in half-blood death

Vampire. It was about an empousa. It was enough for you to want to come, even if the last sentence worried you a bit. You were about to speak up when Chiron raised his hand.

“The sole reason you’re here is because we think it’s about you.”

“Indeed, you’re the only one I know that has an empousa as an enemy,” added Dawon as he nudged you with a smile.

Yeah, the details of your arrival ended up being known around camp. It was apparently common to arrive while chased by a monster, but not every parent died at the same time.

“Oh.”

“If you need anything for the quest, we’re here to help,” proposed Bomin, head counselor of Poseidon’s cabin.

“To make sense of the prophecy, for example,” said Doyoung, the Athena cabin’s head.

“Do you know who you’re going to ask to join you?” Chiron asked.

The only thing you knew for sure was that you were going to get your revenge. And you only needed two friends for this.

“Yeah. All I need to know now is where to begin.”

Doyoung coughed and rearranged the glasses on his nose. “Well, my friend Johnny is from Chicago and last time we spoke about his hometown, he mentioned the Magnificent Mile. He said it was the most famous avenue. Now, I don’t know if the prophecy refers to the city globally or this place precisely… But, either way, I think you need to go there.”

“Thank you for your insight. Do I have a deadline?” you inquired, turning to Chiron.

“You have until the end of the month.”

It sounded like a lot of time, then you remembered the date. “We’re the 29th.”

“Indeed. You have three days, starting now.”

four.

And so began your journey. You had a backpack each, filled with medicine, spare clothes, food, water and money —drachmas and dollars.

Argus was driving you to New York on board the Delphi Strawberry Service van. Jisung kept fidgeting with the beads on his necklace.

“You’re thinking about them, aren’t you?” He squirmed uneasily. “You’ll get back alive, I promise you.”

A promise he knew you couldn’t keep, but it did reassure him a bit. He knew you were going to do everything you could so that you’ll all get back to camp alive.

Felix took your hand in his, squeezing it gently. The sudden contact brought warmth to both yours and Felix’s face and ears. Jisung chuckled at the exchange until he realized he was going to third wheel the whole trip. Then, his face dropped, a groan leaving his lips.

Before Felix could ask what was wrong, Argus pulled up in the train station’s parking. You thanked the camp’s chauffeur and entered the Pennsylvania station.

“I found a direct train,” you told them after talking with an employee, “it’ll take around nineteen hours and thirty minutes. Shall we?”

When you talked to them about the prophecy, they didn’t waste any time and said they’ll come with you. Trying to talk them out of it was useless.

As comfortably installed as possible, Felix and you in the direction of travel, Jisung in the opposite direction, the brown haired boy thought the prophecy over, again.

“Child of Underworld —that’s you, Y/N— must retrieve their father’s —Hades, obviously— accessory. What can it be? What are the known accessories he owns?”

You shrugged while the freckled boy answered his friend’s question.

“There is his bident, or staff, his sword, his helm of darkness, Cerberus, which we cannot call an accessory per say and his golden keys.”

“Is there anything more?”

“Yes, but those are the main attributes he possesses.”

“It can’t be Cerberus or the golden keys, because it’s specifically an accessory, singular,” you commented.

Felix nodded. Jisung continued, “so it’s either the staff, the sword or the helm. OK. Next line is ‘Magnificent Mile holds a piece of the way back in its last breath’. The only thing we know is that Magnificent Mile is an avenue in Chicago. I don’t like the sound of anyone’s last breath, honestly.”

“It’s probably a beast,” you proposed. “It says ‘its’.”

“That’s the most logical option we got,” Felix agreed.

“It better be. ‘The King’s circle’s won by defeating an old vampire enemy’.”

“‘Vampire’ means empousa. I guess we need whatever the King’s circle is for the rest of the quest,” you noted, “do you guys have any idea?”

They shook their heads in unison. “No, but we’ll get back to it. ‘The last challenge in Yellowstone ends in half-blood death’. Not gonna lie, I hate this one the most.”

“Yellowstone… If it’s a place, I don’t know it,” Felix said, thinking about it.

“There’s a Yellowstone national park in Wyoming, but I can’t tell for sure if it’s gonna be there,” you shared.

“It might be,” Jisung voiced and bit his lips, “but it’ll also be the last challenge, and, in case any of you forgot, it’ll end in death. Possibly one of ours.”

He was right. However, dwelling on it so soon would not help anyone.

“Let’s think about that part later, OK? Let’s focus on getting to Chicago safely.”

After four stops, the train passed over the Broadway bridge in Albany. The train weirdly shook.

“Of course,” you muttered, “this couldn’t be a nice, eventless trip.”

People started walking in our direction from the end of the train. They didn’t look particularly alarmed, like it was natural to change wagons while the train was in motion.

Felix looked up through the window and frowned. “I don’t see any—”

The train’s wheels shrieked against the rails, abruptly stopping it. Felix and you fell forward on Jisung, who grunted, obviously not enjoying the voyage so far. Then the sound of metal being crushed like a soda can filled the air. The brown haired boy looked at his friends and gulped loudly.

“Remind me why I was so eager to come?”

You tried to open the doors but they wouldn’t budge. You got closer to a window and unsheathed your sword.

“Get back.” The boys did as told, stepping back to the empty opposite seats.

You hit the glass with the pommel of your sword. It shattered, but before you could step over the wall, a glowing orange eye appeared, surrounded by glistening dark green flesh and a gigantic triangular red maw.

“What’s that smell?” Jisung gagged, closely followed by Felix.

You held your breath and stabbed the monster in the eye. It screeched in pain as it released the hold it had on the train, although not completely. Despite that, you all knew you had a few seconds before the beast would attack.

“I think I know what it is,” Felix said, “help me get on the train.”

“You already are,” Jisung retorted.

“I meant on the roof.”

“It’s too dangerous,” you cut in.

“Y/N, you were about to do it.”

“Yes, but—”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course, b—”

“We don’t have time.”

True enough, the serpent’s mouth flew inside the wagon, missing Felix’s head by a centimeter. You used this opportunity to pierce its other eye. It flew out of the train’s window in a cry. If it wasn’t trying to kill everyone, you would’ve felt bad for it. Although now it was blind and very, very angry.

Felix finally got to the roof with Jisung’s help while you covered them. The snake was so long —around thirty six meters— it wrapped itself around the train at least four times. It had flatten it with its strong hold. Felix wondered how the bridge hadn’t fallen into the river by now.

He silently prayed to his mom and concentrated on creating a rainbow. The sunny afternoon and the river’s reverberation helped greatly. When the serpent’s head was in front of him, he generated multicolored flames from the rainbow to destroy the monster. He felt dumb when he realized it didn’t do anything, its skin extinguishing the flames on contact.

How could he expect to kill a sea snake with fire?

Scolding himself could wait. He rolled over when the monster tried to swallow him up. He unleashed blasts of multicolored energy, penetrating and burning the monster’s skin in the process. Jisung was shooting arrows from the open window, while you were slashing at the monster’s body everywhere you had access to it through the broken windows.

Finally, with one last blast of energy on the serpent’s head, it disintegrated, leaving a damaged train and exhausted demigods. Felix was wondering if the train could get powered up again and carry them all the way to Chicago, but before he could finish his thought, he collapsed on the roof.

five.

Obviously it wouldn’t be a dreamless sleep.

Felix was at a train station. A sign read “Chicago”. He felt relieved. It probably meant they’d make it there.

His consolation was short-lived, however, as he saw a huge lion a few meters away. It seemed to be patiently waiting for them, laying down on the nearest park. The worst part was the 2,50 meters tall giants behind him. They were playing rock paper scissors and one of them didn’t like to lose. He stamped his foot on the ground so hard it felt like an earthquake.

The dream changed. He was outside in the dark, perhaps on a mountain. He could tell by the chilling breeze and the glowing stars. Felix saw a woman not too far, chanting in a language he wasn’t familiar with in front of a large cauldron. He found her beautiful and delicate until he caught a glimpse of the rest of her body. From her waist down was a serpentine body, which oddly resembled the Carthaginian serpent he killed earlier.

He shuddered. When she finished chanting, she turned to Felix, boring her glowing green eyes into his.

“Oh dear, I didn’t mean for you to see me like this,” she said in a seductive way.

She snapped her fingers and the snake part of her body disappeared, replaced by a regular woman's body, wearing a thin black dress.

“There. Better, isn’t it?”

Mist, he thought.

“If you survive your little journey, I’ll be glad to feed on your flesh, even if you’re not quite a child anymore.”

If Felix wasn’t terrified before, he surely was now. He tried to speak, but no sound would come out.

She walked over to him, whispering in his ear, “I’ll drink the Apollo’s kid’s blood and eat his flesh. Once I’m done with him, I’ll deal with you. I’ll take my sweet time. And then, precious Y/N will finally feel my wrath, and eventually die.”

His blood boiled, anger and fear filling his body to the brim. He couldn’t let that happen. Before the woman could sink her crocodile teeth into his neck, Felix woke up in a cold sweat, a few minutes before the Cleveland stop.

It was night, Jisung and you were munching on homemade sandwiches. You had retrieved Felix from the roof together and laid him on two seats in an empty wagon with windows intact. Jisung had fed Felix some nectar and let him sleep for about eight hours.

No matter what the mortals saw, they succeeded in making the train move again and the passengers were seated at the front of the convoy. There was a constant shrill metallic sound coming from the bottom of the train. It was low, but definitely annoying.

“Felix,” you called, “how are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve drained myself to the point of collapsing,” he groaned, sitting up.

“Do you need more nectar?” Jisung asked.

“No, thanks. Besides, we should keep our supplies for as long as possible.”

“Take that sandwich, then.” The brown haired boy tossed him a sandwich and they ate in silence, until Felix told both of you about his dream.

“So, the good news is we’re gonna make it to Chicago,” you said.

Jisung continued, “the bad news is, we’re gonna die in Chicago.”

“I have a few hours to think about a plan while you two sleep.”

You tried to protest but Jisung’s loud yawn put an end to the debate before it even started.

Your dreams were filled with nightmares, like every demigod ever.

It started like every other night. Your mom smiling down at you, her hand stroking your hair, then her being stabbed to death by Keahi. This time the woman smirked and whispered, “I’ll enjoy killing you more than I did your mother.” You were about to curse her when the dream changed.

It was night and in the open space, although a bonfire brightened Felix’s liveless body lying on the ground and Jisung’s limp corpse against a rock a few meters away. You wanted to scream, tears running down your cheeks. A triumphant laugh came from everywhere around you, cutting through the dead of night.

The next dream was so different, it shocked you. You were back on Half Blood Hill, except there was no sign of your mom or the empousa. Instead, there was a tall, shoulder length black haired man with fairly white skin and intense black eyes standing around ten meters away from you. What surprised you the most was the black flowing robes he was wearing, filled with evil souls threaded into it.

Despite his morbid appearance, he was looking at you with unexpected tenderness. You were wondering who this man might be when he spoke up.

“Y/N,” he called, “I’m sorry it took me so long to appear.”

Then it clicked. Of course. This intimidating man was Hades, your dad. A surge of hatred ran through your body beyond your control.

“Where were you? All this time, when I got kicked out of school every other year, when I was made fun of, when mom died? Where were you? Did you even love her?”

His eyes flared with purple fire for a second, his face hardening, but you were too furious to be afraid of the consequences. Just as fast, he calmed himself.

“I did love her, yes. But I couldn’t do anything, to protect you and because I can’t meddle with my children’s lives. You had to forge your own path for it to mean anything. You still do.”

You scoffed. “Bet you say that to all your kids.” The uneasy look he gave you proved you were right. “Gods, you do have a healthy way with kids, huh?”

“I understand your rage. But right now, you must focus on your quest.”

“Easy for you to say,” you muttered.

“You must not fall into a blind rage when you see her. You must control your thirst for revenge.”

“You sure love to tell me what to do for someone I just met.”

“Y/N… If you don’t control your powers, bad things could happen. Your friends might pay the price.”

“Oh so now you’re threatening my friends!”

He sighed, visibly tired. His form began to fade. “I have to go. Remember my words when you face the empousa.”

Before you could make a snarky remark, he vanished. You woke up feeling so angry your friends could practically see it.

“Usually we wake up confused, terrified, or determined, but as angry as you are, I’m afraid to ask about what you saw,” Jisung started joking, but then recoiled in his seat in front of you.

Felix gave you a worried look.

“I’m okay.” You were still fuming but they knew better than to push it.

When you sat up, the blond boy sat next to you and took your hand in his. It calmed you down more efficiently than you’d care to admit.

“We’re almost there. And I have a plan.”

six.

The Great Hall was majestic, with columns all around and a barrel-vaulted skylight bathing the room in soft light. It was giving Greek revival vibes, which comforted you if only for a moment.

You were firmly holding the grip of your sword, mentally preparing for the fight ahead. The lion was waiting for you three outside the station, but there was no giant in sight.

The fact that Felix had a plan didn’t ease your nerves that much, because plans rarely unfolded as expected. But he knew stuff about monsters and Greek mythology as a whole, so it was helping.

“He’s not that big,” Jisung shrugged, “just the size of a pick-up truck. We can totally get him.”

He nocked his arrow as the Iris kid and you unsheathed your swords.

Not two minutes into the fight, you realized that Felix was right. The lion’s pelt was deflecting all your weapons. It was pointless to attack from behind and by surprise. You tried to keep him occupied until Felix could find an opening.

“Guys, I’m no Hercules, so don’t expect me to asphyxiate him with my bare hands!” Jisung shouted. He tried to shoot an arrow into the lion’s eye, but he somehow saw it coming and protected himself.

“It would’ve been easier with a cornucopia but…” Felix threw his backpack into the lion’s maw. As he bellowed in disgust, your friend shouted, “now!”

Jisung fired arrows into his open mouth. He dissolved except for his pelt. “Great. I’ve always wanted to resemble a caveman.” The Apollo kid’s wry comment made you smile.

He somehow succeeded in putting it away in his bag, at the same moment the three giants decided to show up. They were coming from the park, their iron clubs laying low.

“Where is the lion? There was a lion, right?” one of them asked.

“Already defeated, useless scamp! And guess what? You’re next!” Jisung raised his arms wide, like he was waiting for a group hug. Then, he gestured to the giants with one hand. “What kind of ogres are you, anyway?”

Felix nudged him. “They’re Laistrygonian giants, dude. Muscular tattooed man eaters.”

“You look awfully smug for our next lunch, half-blood,” the tallest of the giants said.

“In your dreams, you witless gollumpus!” He didn’t waste any more time and shot arrows at them. They deflected the projectiles with ease except for the smallest giant, who apparently wasn’t paying much attention. He crumbled into dust.

The other two roared in outrage and sprinted your way, brandishing their clubs high above their heads. Felix sidestepped when the giant swung his arm, rolled between his legs and stabbed him in the back.

Two down, one to go.

“You’ll pay for that, demigods!” the tallest giant bellowed before laying his arm down on Jisung.

You cut off his arm with a swirl of your sword. He yelled, turned and tried to crush your throat with his remaining hand. He was circling your neck with his huge fingers, but Felix thrusted his celestial bronze sword into his side. He disintegrated.

“Thank you,” you breathed with difficulty, locking eyes with Felix.

He dropped his blade and enveloped you in a comforting hug that lasted more than the average.

“Are you okay?” he inquired, cupping your face with his hands. He searched your face for any sign of hurt, sadness, fear… But there was only relief and tiredness. You nodded.

“You fought bravely.”

You turned, raising an eyebrow at the sight of a beautiful woman with black eyes and blond hair. She was wearing a black gown and carrying two old-fashioned reed torches. She was surrounded by green light and Mist was everywhere around her.

Felix let go of your face and unconsciously grabbed your hand instead. He studied the goddess, picking up on the details that showed who she might be. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure you could trust her.

“Why, thank you mysterious woman! So, which one are you?” Jisung questioned, a bit wary.

“Hecate,” Felix murmured.

“Well done, Iris kid. Before you ask, I’m here to offer guidance. You’re about to—”

“Sorry, but, um… You’re the goddess of magic, you created empousai. Why would you help us?” you asked. It didn’t make sense to you, knowing the prophecy, which you were sure she knew about too.

“As I was saying, daughter of Hades,” she continued with a neutral voice, “you’re about to face great danger.”

“What, more than the usual death threats? What a bummer,” Jisung snorted, crossing his arms.

“Your insolence isn’t helping your case, Apollo kid. My children —or creations, whatever— don’t always follow my orders. We’re not obliged to share the same faith. They’re free. Like my children back at camp half-blood.” You waited for her to continue.

“Jisung, joking around helps you hide your scars, but you need to embrace them to properly move forward. Sharing your burden might do the trick. You’re also worth more than you think.”

She then turned to your freckled friend. “Felix, you need to stop putting everyone before yourself. You cannot control everyone’s happiness. You’ll soon have to prove you can keep your distance, for your own sake.”

Finally, she set her eyes on you. “Y/N, I know you think you’re not worth being here, going on this journey. You feel helpless, because you haven’t slayed any monster yet. But do not worry, your time will come soon enough, and with that, your greatest challenge. You have so much more power within than you might believe. This power needs to be used wisely.”

A wave of uneasiness washed over the three of you, Hecate’s words touching some nerves. Her words echoed your father’s. You regretted your outburst in your latest dream because you could have used this opportunity to ask which one of his attributes was missing. That would have made one less question unanswered.

“Well.” She clapped her hands. “I should probably tell you, now that there’s no more ground means of transport to Wyoming —I mean, you’re not going to steal a car, are you?— you’ll need to use aerial transportation.”

“But how—” Felix started, but got cut off.

“Off I go. Remember, you have two days left to get back to camp safely. Good luck on your quest, demigods. I hope Tyche can lend you some.”

She disappeared in a cloud of Mist.

“If I didn’t feel good then, I definitely do now!” Jisung sarcastically smiled.

For the first time since you’ve known him, you realized Hecate was right about the guy. Behind all the jokes and smiles, he had a sadness in him that was hard to decipher. But you were aware now. Felix was visibly concentrating, eyes closed and face facing the sky.

“Do you want to talk about what Hecate said?” you suggested. “About sharing your—”

“Well, I’d love to, trust me, but I’m fine. But hey, it seems you were right. Yellowstone is a national park.”

Deciding prying wasn’t gonna help, you nodded and turned your head towards the sky. You noticed a faint dark form in the horizon. Squinting your eyes in an attempt to identify what was coming for you this time, Felix left out a relieved sigh, then a chuckle. You spotted the sweat on his forehead. A few seconds later, you recognized winged horses.

Three of them.

“Did you summon them?” you questioned Felix, who was grinning.

“One of my mom’s powers. I’m glad it worked.”

Two of them were white and one was brown. They came to a stop in front of you, the brown pegasus neighing, gently nuzzling Felix.

“Thank you for coming, guys,” he said as he scratched the horse’s head. He turned to Jisung and you. “Are you ready for a ride?”

After a few hours flying high in the sky, you could finally make out the mountain you had to go to. You were about fifty kilometers away from the destination when you heard screeching from behind.

Jisung whined. “Come on!”

“Dozens of Gryphons! We’ll have to fight!” Felix yelled.

He brandished his sword, turned around and lashed out at them. You followed, while Jisung kept his distance, shooting arrows at the dozens of enemies. Dusk was only a few minutes away. The sky’s colors —blue, purple, red, orange, yellow— looked peaceful and pretty compared to the fight that was breaking out under it.

Four monsters succumbed to your blade before another one planted its talons in your pegasus’ thigh as you slashed its right wing. You cursed under your breath when the winged horse squealed, pitching up while flapping his wings frantically. He was bleeding.

You almost fell, but managed to hang on his mane and kill the gryphon. Unfortunately, another one immediately took its place and pecked your mounting’s neck with its sharp beak. He was losing too much blood, the liquid staining his beautiful white coat.

As he was dropping altitude, you were slowly and painfully losing your grip on his mane. You were falling to your death together. But not without taking the monster with you.

You squeezed the pegasus’ flanks to keep balance and brought down your sword on the gryphon’s neck. It disintegrated. You thanked and apologized to your companion for a few hours, hugging his neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding and preparing yourself for the impact. However, he crumbled into dust a few hundred meters above the ground, leaving you free falling on your own.

Felix swooped your way on his brown pegasus and caught your waist. Your arms immediately wrapped around his torso. Jisung took down the last gryphon in your peripheral view. You started to smile, but the brown haired boy’s eyes widened. He shouted: “Look out!”

The actual last monster seized the pegasus’ gaskins with its claws and pulled them, making him go upside down. Felix and you fell face first off the winged horse, holding each other tightly. You couldn’t even see the gryphon butchering its prey. Jisung slayed the monster with a well-aimed arrow and sped up to catch you both.

He wasn’t quick enough. You were swallowed by the shadows, leaving the Apollo kid behind with a pegasus as confused and worried as he was.

seven.

Felix woke up in a cave with low light coming from torches dispersed on the walls. You were passed out on the floor but didn’t look injured, which was good.

He scanned his surroundings. It was a rectangular room with a door on the far left. It seemed like there was no one else with you. He sat on his legs, put down his sword and brought your head on his lap. He poured a little amount of nectar into your parted lips.

He felt a presence behind him, but was too late to act. The invisible form dragged him away from you, your head hitting the ground with a soft thud. He tried to fight back but got tossed head first in the dirt. With a grunt, he got on his knees and looked around, but there was no one. As he got up, he felt claws scratch his chest, ripping his orange shirt in the process. He yelped, took a knife out of his belt and aimlessly sliced through the air all around him.

He saw your body move. Thinking you were waking up, he let down his guard and ran to you. He tripped on something metallic and fell down. Looking behind him, there was just the muddy floor.

“Get on your knees,” a feminine voice ordered, her words resonating dangerously across the room. “Don’t move.”

He was now on his knees, facing you with a blank expression as if he wasn’t in control of his body anymore.

The first punch he received in the gut hurt like hell, but his face and body remained motionless like a doll. Then, he received blows on his ribs, his cheeks, his jawline. It was enough for him to faint. The pain was blinding him but he kept his eyes open. He watched, helpless, as you slowly stood up, glaring his way. No, you were looking somewhere above him.

“Show yourself, blood sucker, so I can make you pay,” your voice was calm yet threatening.

Keahi laughed, moving Felix’s face so you could see all the bruises she gave him. It was a bad idea on her part because you were now fully pissed. Seeing him like this… After what she did to your mom, you wanted to end her life so badly.

The ground blackened around you and the air dropped to freezing. A black flood of anger, pain, guilt and grief poured out of you in waves, hitting the monster and Felix. The latter experienced your worst memories. The pain, guilt and grief from the death of your mom, your hardships, the anger —no, hatred— you felt towards the empousa that made your life miserable.

“Stop this!” she taunted.

It seemed to get Felix out of his trance.

“Y/N…” he murmured and hit the floor.

All the pain he received in the last minutes knocked him out. This scene made you more furious, if that was even possible at this point. The waves became thicker and stronger, making Keahi loudly hit the nearest wall.

“You’re just a kid! You might be powerful, but not powerful enough to destroy me and my sister.” Desperation was evident in her voice. “If you keep going, you’ll kill the boy too.”

You went at it for several more seconds. It was hard to stop, you wanted her dead and your emotions took over your judgment. Although, one look at Felix’s limp body was enough for you to snap out of it.

You reached for your sword and threw it in her direction like a javelin. It planted itself in the wall. The empousa disintegrated and a golden ring fell on the floor. The waves stopped and the flood slowly dissipated. Before you could take a step towards Felix, you passed out again.

Jisung was patrolling from the air, alert for any movement on the mountain, without being certain you were even there. Several minutes later, he saw black smoke coming from a strange rectangle on the ground. Getting closer, he realized it was a hatch.

The pegasus landed on the floor next to it. Jisung dismounted and opened the hatch to a dark corridor. He waited for the dark Underworld stuff —meaning you were probably there— to disappear completely before venturing inside, his bow ready.

At the end of the damp corridor was a single door. He entered and found his friends’ bodies on the floor, a hand extended to each other’s direction. He flew to Felix’s side, poured nectar into his mouth, winced when he caught sight of his bruises and chest, then gave you the same treatment, relieved to see there weren't many physical injuries.

He didn’t want to leave any of you alone and he couldn’t move both of you at the same time. He was about to sit down when he spotted your sword in the wall. He grabbed the hilt and pulled it out with much effort. Something golden was on the floor so he picked it up. It was a golden ring.

Spoil of War? It didn’t seem like it, but how could he know? He wasn’t there. He put it in his pocket anyway. Felix opened his eyes and immediately went to your side. He reached for his backpack.

“I already gave her nectar.”

Felix’s head turned so fast his neck cracked. “You scared me!”

“Sorry.” Jisung walked over. “Let’s go, this place is creepy.”

The Iris kid was sending worried looks your way the whole time they spent carrying you outside. He related his version of the facts. How he was manipulated and hit by an invisible woman, experienced your pain, and passed out once the charmspeak wore off.

“It’s been a hell of a couple days, huh?”

“Tell me about it.” Fresh air and sunlight did Felix some good.

“Let’s sleep a bit before facing death again, shall we?” Jisung offered.

They took sleeping bags out of their backpack, Jisung with a bit more difficulty due to the lion’s pelt taking up most space. Both enveloped you in yours, then they argued on who should take first watch.

The brown haired boy won. He wasn’t injured and Felix visibly needed rest. He changed into a new t-shirt and insisted on being woken up a few hours later, though.

He dreamed he was in the same dark place again. The fire was cackling, lightening up the monster’s face and body. He was definitely terrified of her.

It felt like she was waiting for him. “Tomorrow we meet, demigod. Tomorrow, you die.”

He wanted to yell: “We’ll defeat you, like we did all our enemies until now.” but no sound could leave his lips.

“Oh, but they’re nothing compared to me,” she exclaimed like she heard his thoughts somehow. “Fighting me will make everything you endured so far feel like a walk in the park.”

That didn’t make him feel any better about the whole quest and their chance of survival. He was scared for his friends, for himself.

Hecate’s words replayed in his mind. “You’ll soon have to prove you can keep your distance, for your own sake.” Even if he thought his encounter with the empousa was a proof in itself, he felt dread. Something even worse was about to happen, he could feel it.

Felix woke up alert, but it was night.

“Jisung!” he complained, but he found him fast asleep next to him.

You, on the other hand, were awake, preparing a snack and humming an old song. You were so pretty with the sun lighting your hair and skin.

“Hello, Rainbow Boy. Here, eat this.”

You handed him toasts of cheese and an apple cut into quarters, but he just stared at you instead of taking them.

“Y/N,” he murmured like a whisper, a relieved sigh.

He engulfed you in a bone crushing hug, his nose buried in your neck. You hugged him back like you could, the food still in your hands.

“Are you okay? I was so scared.”

“I would be better if I could breathe,” you joked.

He apologized and let you go but stayed close, thanking you for the food.

“What happened back there? Do you know what monster it was?”

Your smile turned into a hard look. “None other than my mom’s murderer, Keahi.”

He reached for your hand, drawing smoothing circles on the knuckles with his thumb.

“I wonder how she made herself invisible. It’s not an empousa power,” he wondered.

“There was a ring.”

“A ring that makes its wearer invisible… Sounds familiar.”

“I have no clue where it is, though. Perhaps still in that cave.”

“Wait. King’s circle? Gyges was a king who found a golden ring in a cave. ‘Circle’ could mean the ring. Was it golden?” You nodded. “Then we need to get it back. It could help us on our next step.”

“No need,” Jisung yawned as he stretched, “I have it right here. Call me Bilbo Baggins.” He took the ring out of his pocket and gave it to you.

“You’re a lifesaver, I hope you know that,” you thanked him.

He smirked, “I do know, but being acknowledged is always appreciated.”

“So… If, hypothetically, I put this on…” you said, doing so. “I’ll become invisible.”

“You literally are, right now.” Felix tried to touch your shoulder but you weren’t there anymore.

You sneaked behind them and pressed a finger on their sides, watching them squirm and whine.

“OK, OK, sorry.” You took out the ring and threw it in Felix’s direction. “You should keep it.”

He had great reflexes, so he caught it easily. “Why me?”

“I already got the lion’s pelt and it’s taking way too much space, so a ring would be too much,” Jisung answered, shrugging innocently.

Rolling your eyes, you elbowed him. “You’re the best choice. You’re the most selfless out of us. I trust you.”

He wanted to argue but decided against it.

He trusted you too.

eight.

Jisung took a few minutes to say goodbye to his pegasus. He thanked him, stroked his mane and gave him a treat. Felix apologized for his companions, for which the winged horse nudged him and bowed before flying away.

“Before we go, I think I need to tell you guys something,” the brown haired boy mumbled.

Felix and you exchanged glances and offered him sympathetic smiles.

“Let’s sit,” he continued. Once you were, he took a deep breath and got into it right away.

He talked about his past. How, when he was seven, he lost his half brother in a car accident. How he ran away to the park near his house after an argument with his step dad, how his little brother went to look for him then. How he was busy pitying himself when he heard the crash. How he blamed himself for the whole thing. How he swore to never run off again because he didn’t want his mom to end up this way too. How he decided to bury his feelings and never speak of this, ever.

“Jisung… None of it was your fault,” you assured. “You were so young… I’m so sorry.”

“Ji, thank you for sharing this with us. We’re here for you. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Thanks guys… I had to tell someone before we went to our ultimate death.”

“No way you’re dying today, I won’t allow it. You’ll get back to your crush.”

“OK, chill Y/N, I don’t have a crush.”

“The redness on your face says otherwise, buddy,” Felix laughed softly.

Jisung had lessened his burden like Hecate had suggested, and it worked. He felt better, ready to move forward.

The sun was rising. You had to get to the mountain next to the one you were currently on. The only way now was by foot. And you had to be back by the end of the day.

Easy enough. No, it was definitely not easy.

But you had to try.

On your way to the monster, you explained the plan you fashioned to the boys while they were asleep. After a lot of complaining and no’s, they finally accepted it (mostly because they didn’t have better ideas). Although Felix refused to use the ring.

Three hours later, the boys and you finally set foot in the clearing. All around were old trees and, in the center, was a large cauldron on top of a bonfire. Next to it was a block of stone with a bronze helmet on top of it. So it was the helm. The monster was there, chanting in a language that resembled latin.

“Lamia,” Felix whispered, swallowing loudly.

“Ah! Children, at last,” Lamia exclaimed with a charming yet dark smile.

“We came for my father’s helm.”

“The same dad that abandoned you?”

It was true, you still resented him, but bringing everyone back safely was a priority.

“Yeah, I guess. It’s that one I presume?” you asked as you pointed to it.

“Busted,” Lamia laughed falsely before putting it on her head.

She became invisible and the fear emanating from the helm paralyzed the three of you.

It was unsure what exactly happened. Was it your survival instinct or were you more powerful than the helm itself? Whatever it was, you were able to parry the attack with your sword. There was no time wondering how you could manage that.

Without being able to see or hear where she was, you warded off every attack she threw. You were about to get the upper hand when she grabbed Felix’s mortified body. You could see it in his eyes.

“Your sister tried that and regretted it,” you spat.

Lamia reappeared when she took off the helmet, keeping it under her unused arm.

“She’s weak. I’ll make sure to let her know when she’s back.”

Of course monsters will always be back, no matter how much we slay them.

“You know,” she resumed, “your dad thinks he’s all mighty and powerful because he rules the Underworld. Yet his precious helm was too easy to steal. And he sends his beloved daughter to death for this?”

Her claws enveloping Felix’s neck and Jisung’s shattered breath gave you a hard time thinking about your next move. You couldn’t be reckless again.

You had to save them.

“Leave them alone. Let’s do this one on one.”

“Why would I accept your proposition when I have the upperhand, sweetie?”

You scoffed. “Come on now. Are you scared to face a kid? You’re acting all-powerful and invincible, but fighting me is too much?”

Her expression hardened. Pride touched.

Bingo.

Lamia shoved Felix on the floor, a vicious glare throwing daggers at you. You had to restrain yourself from jumping her right this instant.

Distancing her from your friends was vital. She put the helmet back on as you were moving around to cause her back to face them. Not wasting any time attacking, you slashed your sword here and there, not letting her ripost. However, you were getting tired. She took advantage and ripped your arm with her claws. You stumbled and closed your eyes, groaning.

“Already down? You’re making this too easy,” she mused after taking the helm off again.

Felix and Jisung regained their senses away from her. They were ready to fight. Jisung was bow ready and Felix was summoning light.

When you opened your eyes and got to your feet, you realized they were waiting for a sign. From you.

The pressure of leading was growing but you tried to bury it inside. You couldn’t deal with more anxiety at the moment. You focused on Lamia, who was grinning from a false feeling of victory, and shouted, “NOW!”

The three of you gave your all and hit her at the same time. As Felix struck her with blinding light, Jisung shot her in the back and you pierced her heart. You enjoyed her look of surprise when she disintegrated in a shrill scream. All that was left was the helm of darkness falling to the ground with a clang.

Clenching your arm, you fell on your knees. Felix engulfed you into a tight hug.

“This is gonna sound controversial, but I think that went well,” Jisung said as he picked up the helm.

“You must all be fools if you think you can take me down that easily,” a feminine voice taunted.

She was at the other side of the open space, Mist slowly dispersing around her. How did she do that? The marks on your arm were real, so when did she create the Mist? How could you not have seen it coming?

Realizing he actually didn’t have anything in his hands, Jisung quickly shot arrows her way but she managed to dodge them and put on the helmet. Felix couldn’t get up, fear keeping him grounded.

You witnessed, helpless, Jisung’s body being thrown across the clearing. Anger building up inside you, you got to your feet and charged.

Certainly you couldn’t hear or see her, but you could feel her. Probably due to your connection to the underground. But despite your best efforts, you couldn’t seem to have enough to wound her. It was almost as if she didn’t need the helm at all, like she could end you all with or without it. Like she only used it for extra fun.

Your limbs started to ache. Panting, you planted your sword on the ground. You could feel Lamia laugh triumphally.

Concentrating, you opened a crevasse that allowed skeletons to rise and surround the monster. They closed in on her, and eventually started attacking all at once. She effortlessly took them down one by one in an elegant dance.

There was only one thing left to do but your friends were here and the least thing you wanted was to hurt them.

“I have a question. Does your mom know what you’re doing? Aren’t you scared of retaliation?”

It was interesting enough for her to take the helmet off. “What are you talking about, mortal? Hecate does not care about whether you live or die today.”

Felix joined Jisung at the far end of the open space. It was now or never.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. She came to see us yesterday, you know. She might punish you later when I’m done with you.”

“I do not care about Hecate!” Her voice was trembling, though. “You’re irritating. I’ll deal with you first.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” you whispered to yourself.

As she put the helmet back on for the nth time, the floor blackened. You let the flood of black smoke leave your body while the temperature dropped. It wasn’t as strong as when you faced Keahi, but anger and pain were still present. It affected her, but not enough to end her.

Felix analyzed the situation and summoned light, except he didn’t know where to hit. You tried your best to show him by sinking Lamia into the floor to her calves. The movement caught his eye. Rainbow sparks shot from the sky into her skin. You felt her scream in pain.

It still wasn’t sufficient. She was getting restless and you were getting desperate. What more could you do? It seemed to have worked the first time but it wasn’t real, how could you be sure it would work this time?

The flood was getting thicker, your hand tightening around the tilt of your sword. Of course, you could just try it again and if it didn’t work… then you would have tried until the end.

Breathing heavily, you walked up to her. Raising your sword, you whispered a “good bye” before slowly but surely pressing the blade into her heart.

Lamia didn’t just sit back. She yelled, sinking her claws into your chest and arms at the same time. You endured the pain but gasped when an arrow pierced through her neck and passed you by a few centimeters to finish its course in the nearest tree. Multicolored flames burned her too, until the helm of darkness fell to the ground in front of you.

“Y/N!” Felix ran to you. “No, no, no…”

Blood was dripping from the multiple claw marks. He caught you when your knees gave out, helping you down and maintaining your head on his hand.

“Jisung,” he desperately called, “you need to do something.”

“Already on it…”

Felix pressured on your shoulder wound with his free hand while the brown haired boy roamed through his backpack. Blood ran through his fingers.

“Stay with me, Y/N, please.”

You smiled faintly. “We won this time, right? That’s— that’s good.”

He brought you closer to him. “Yeah, thanks to you.”

“Move, loverboy,” Jisung ordered.

The Iris kid did as told but kept pressuring your wound. “You’re gonna be okay, I promise.”

These were the last words you heard before fainting.

nine.

You woke up to a moving vehicle, your chest and arms tingling with every bump it rolled over. Jisung was talking to someone you couldn’t see, and Felix’s hand was intertwined with yours. More than that, you were seated next to each other, your head comfortably laid on his shoulder.

Jisung looked behind him and gave you a gummy smile. “Sleeping beauty’s awake at last!”

“Are you okay?” the boy next to you asked as you sat up straight.

You nodded and realized you were in a minibus. Unless you were mistaken, there was no vehicle whatsoever on the mountain last time you checked.

“Indeed! You needed a drive home. That’s where I came in,” a man said joyfully.

You blinked when you saw Apollo driving and waving you hello through the rear-view mirror.

“I had the brilliant idea to offer the lion’s pelt and the ring of Gyges to my dad and hoped he would grant us a little help to get back to Olympus safely and quickly,” he explained with a satisfied face.

It was exceptionally brilliant that he accepted.

During the rest of the road trip, Apollo was relating some of his adventures to whoever listened. The return was smoother than the outward, allowing you to rest a bit. The blonde boy had a worried face whenever he laid his eyes on you.

On Mount Olympus, Hades was here with the Olympian Gods, on his seldom used throne. His proud stare was weird to witness, especially when it was directed towards you. You gave him back his helm under Apollo’s loud praise for his ‘son and his companions’ bravery on this perilous odyssey’. The Gods thanked the three of you and got on with their immortal lives.

Iris winked at her kid, mouthing “I’m proud of you.” and they all left the palace.

You did the same, the boys walking to the elevator while Hades, who was following you, asked for a chat. You agreed, staying back to hear what he had to say.

“I know that blessing you with this much power made you a target. Honestly, I can’t take them back. But I know you’ll use them well. You proved during your journey that you were mature and strong enough. You’ve made me proud.”

Hearing these words filled you with a warm feeling, which you despised. It was too soon for you to warm up to him.

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for mom.”

He nodded in understanding. “She’s in Elysium you know? She wants you to live a long, fulfilled life before seeing her again.''

You were about to tell him you’ve known for years, but he turned around and left.

You thought about your mom, and how at peace she was right now. At that moment, you decided to let go of the negative thoughts obscuring your judgment and decisions. Your mom was waiting for you, and you intended to make her proud of you.

Jogging to your friends, you smiled, happy that was finally over. Obviously you knew more danger was coming, but you’d be okay as long as your friends were there with you.

ten.

Back at camp, the three of you were acclaimed, the respective head counselors of your cabins personally greeting each of you. They looked particularly proud. The fervor of the return having dissipated, you sat in the Big House with Chiron before dinner time, to relate your journey.

“So yeah, it turned out we had to get the helm of darkness back from Lamia,” you said.

“The piece of the way back was the lion’s pelt and the last challenge was in the Yellowstone national park in Wyoming,” added Jisung.

“The King’s circle was Gyges’ invisible ring,” Felix divulged.

“I’m glad you’re all back safely,” Chiron smiled.

“I have a question, though,” Jisung raised his hand. “Half-blood death. Did it not come through?”

“It did. Lamia was a demigod, daughter of Hecate and Queen of Libya,” Chiron explained, “she was turned into a monster by Hera.”

“Explains a lot,” you muttered.

Jisung returned to his crush friend from the Hephaestus cabin while Felix and you walked together to your cabins. During your little walk, the Aphrodite kid, AKA the pretty painter, came to see you. It shocked you to see him in front of you, and it shocked you even further to see the two greet each other like old friends.

“I’m glad you’re back, Felix,” he said, a genuine smile on his face.

“Thanks Hyunjin. I’m happy to be back.”

“Hello Y/N.”

He knows my name!! How does he know my name??

“Huh, hi…”

“Felix talks about you a—”

“That’s great,” the blond boy cut him off, ears reddening, “but we have stuff to do before dinner. Bye Hyunjin, see you around!”

“Lix,” you called as he rushed you to the cabins, “how do you know him?”

“We came to camp together. Why?”

Realizing he was ‘just’ a pretty painter for you and that you were more interested in Felix than him, you smiled sheepishly.

“Nothing, I never asked how or when you came to camp.”

“Oh, well, we were seven kids on the run after monsters attacked our school, and satyrs finally found us and brought us here. We were between six and ten.”

He stopped in his tracks when he realized you weren’t following anymore. When he turned around to face you, you hugged him, burying your face in his neck. He stroked your back affectionately.

“It must’ve been hard. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay, we made it without too many problems.”

After a good dinner and a wholehearted singalong, you ended up on the beach, eyes fixed on the stars. Hearing footsteps approaching, you only looked over when he sat next to you.

“Pretty cloudless sky, huh?”

“Yeah,” you agreed, “but the stars are prettier on your face.”

It was unknown which one of you was blushing more.

“Sorry—”

“Y/N—”

“You first,” you offered, hiding your face into your cold hands. Or was it your face that was hot?

“I came to a conclusion while on that awful quest,” Felix announced, folding his arms on top of his knees. He looked at the horizon. “I can’t bear the thought of losing you. Seeing you hurting tears me apart, and I think what Hecate meant by ‘my own sake’ wasn’t my safety, but rather my heart after seeing you suffer.” He sighed. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that… I love you, Y/N,” he finished, daring to turn your way.

He was met with you facing him and staring at him intently, tears forming in your eyes. “Felix… There are not enough words to express how much you mean to me. I literally cannot live without you. I love you so much.”

The embrace you two shared was worth a thousand words.

As you let go of each other, his eyes trailed on your collarbone, where a mark was visible above your orange t-shirt. You followed his gaze and touched your bruised skin. You locked eyes with him and smiled softly.

“These will make badass scars.”

thank you for reading! if you enjoyed, please let me know and here's the masterlist<3

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taelme · 5 years ago

Text

Enemies-to-lovers!(demigod)Hyunjin

request: Hey :) I just really want to read something about Hyunjin if that's fine with you. I'm kind of a sucker for this whole enemies to lovers thing too lol but it would also be super cool if it could be something with fantasy. I don't really know 😅 I think if you're going to write it it would be good anyway. genre: enemies-to-lovers!au (kind of, i feel like it wasnt that extreme but more of a dislike-to-lovers lol), demigod!au (fluff, slight angst? its rly not much, a lot of confusion on reader’s part) pairing/s: Hyunjin / Reader (fem) (ft some skz, nct and got7 members!) word count: 18k+ tw: mentions of blood and (sword)fighting a/n: thank you to anon for being so patient again...its really taken me really long to think of something for this haha i kind of wanted to tap on Hyunjin’s like personality a little more for this like the side of him that’s very like in tune with his emotions or whatnot but idk if i emphasised that a lot but thats just a fun fact lol anyway there was a whole lot of thought exposition in this but this was very much a mix of information based off my existing knowledge of greek gods and the percy jackson series but i hope i explained it clearly enough so even if you’re not familiar with it you won’t be too confused while reading!

You wondered if you should’ve been scared when you’d awoken to the sound of your friend Jeongin waltzing into your cabin, the echo of ‘love is a many splendored thing’ coming from his lips as he meandered his way around the much more intimidating daughters of Ares in your room.

“Didn’t know they still allowed you in here,” you huffed, rolling your eyes but not without the small smile playing at your lips as you rolled over, sighing into your pillow and making space for Jeongin to flop belly-down onto your bed.

Ignoring your comment (not without sticking his tongue out at you for good measure), Jeongin’s smile had only grown as he supported his head with his hands.

You huffed, bringing a hand up to rub at your eyes, not being able to find it in you to be annoyed that he’d interrupted your sleep, “are you just gonna smile at me or are you gonna actually tell me what happened?”

Jeongin wrinkled his nose slightly, “guess,” he whispered.

“You...” you frowned, rolling over onto your back, hugging your pillow closer to your head, your eyebrows knitting into a thoughtful frown, “finished your painting?”

Shaking his head, Jeongin hummed, “better.”

“Better?” you echoed, “did you get elected for something... or something?” you yawned, trying your luck at this point, having close to no idea what he was so smiley about.

Jeongin rolled his eyes, though his grin remained, a small giggle leaving him, “give up?”

You nodded, “yeah, give up.”

“Someone’s back in the Poseidon cabin for the summer.”

You figured you might as well milk it while you could, pretending to not know who Jeongin was referring to as you pouted, “Who? Chan?”

Jeongin rolled his eyes, again, “don’t play dumb, you know who i’m talking about.”

You sighed, stretching your arms out above your head, dumping your act of ignorance (acting was never your strong suit anyway), “and what do you expect me to do about that?”

“You don’t have to do anything, technically,” Jeongin shrugged, “he’ll probably approach you first.”

You made a face, not liking Jeongin’s implication at all.

Jaehyun was just a friend you’d made from a few years before. Sure, he was friendly, and Jeongin did always point out the fact that he’d always somehow end up in the same area as the both of you, but you never read into it, having never felt anything romantic towards him at all in your time knowing him. After all, even if you wanted to, the last you heard (if the Aphrodite sisters were to be trusted for gossip) was that he had a girlfriend back home.

“Not funny, Jeongin.”

Jeongin scoffed, “who said I was trying to be funny?” he tried, failing to hold his expression of feigned offence as a bout of giggles escaped him, “okay, fine, maybe I was, but still, you have to admit that you know it’s gonna happen at one point.”

“What’s gonna happen?” you said with a scoff, sitting up in your bed as you let out another yawn.

Jeongin narrowed his eyes at you, “you know what i’m talking about,” he shrugged, making you groan. Trust him to be specific.

Getting out of bed, you brought a hand up to rub your shoulder, rolling your shoulders back with a wince, “I didn’t think he was gonna come back, honestly.”

Jeongin shook his head insistently, “think about it, if he already graduated... he’s probably only back because...” Jeongin gestured towards you, his eyes wide and full of implication.

“Shut up, Jeongin,” you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you in spite of the part of you that was very much averse to his implication.

“Anyway, what are your plans later?” you asked him, eager to divert his attention elsewhere, earning a long hum from him.

You turned to see him fiddling with the corner of your bed sheet, frowning at the faint sound of rock music he could hear coming from the other rooms.

“Haven’t decided,” he sighed deeply, “might go back and finish up my painting... you?” You’d walked around your bed, “probably go and train or something,” you shrugged.

Jeongin made it a point to yawn loudly, “shouldn’t have expected anything else. Why don’t you join me one of these days after the game’s over?”

“Yeah, of course I will, I just wanna get... used to it before the game. It’s been ages since I touched my sword,” you made to pick up your things to freshen up, Jeongin deciding that would be his cue to leave, bidding you goodbye (but not without a smothering hug).

Don’t get you wrong, you were thankful for Jeongin. A son of Hebe, he’d been at the camp longer than you had, and he’d taken the liberty of befriending you after a particularly amusing run-in during a game the previous summer where you’d accidentally torn a hole in his pants with your sword at a pretty unfavourable area.

Not to mention how the boy was one of the few that dared to tread within Ares grounds. Being the son of the goddess of youth, you should’ve figured it was natural for him to be so personable to others (not to mention the fascinating way he looked so youthful), but you were thankful for it nonetheless. Not many people considered it a want to look past the barbed wire and screaming red motifs that seemed to surround the children of the god of war.

Though a part of you wished you could’ve joined Jeongin for a peaceful morning doing art while overlooking the lake, you were a little glad you didn’t, because as you sparred, you remembered just what felt so freeing about being in the field, a sense of anticipation building within you as you thought about the first capture-the-flag game of the summer coming up in a few days.

“Did you hear?” Yuta, another son of Ares, had asked you while the both of you practiced your archery.

You sighed, rolling your neck back before narrowing your eyes at the target again, “hear what?”

“Wait, look, look there, the new Aphrodite kid. Heard he was claimed a few days ago,” Yuta nodding his head towards the direction of the mess hall, and you spotted a small group of boys and girls making their way towards the mess hall.

It wasn’t hard to tell they were Aphrodite’s children, from the way they dressed so elegantly, to the way they carried themselves, as if nothing in the world could shake them or put a single hair out of place.

Something about the effortless nature of it all seemed so unreal to you, especially since you were stood there with your flyaway hair sticking out no matter how much you tried to keep it in place.

“Can’t say I didn’t see it coming, something about him was always more... mesmerising,” Yuta continued, with yourself busy observing the group of them.

“That one? Wasn’t he already here for a while already?” you gestured to one of them who was walking in the middle, rolling the sleeves of their shirt to their elbows with a sheer grace you couldn’t understand, his hair slightly longer than you’d remembered seeing it the previous summer.

Hyunjin was his name, if you remembered what Jeongin said correctly. Who were you kidding, of course you remembered.

The daughters of Ares in your bunk talked about him all the time, even if they didn’t show it. Almost every day you’d hear new things about him, as if it was your daily dose of the news. Something about him being a dancer, or something about a song he was listening to, even what movie he watched recently, none of which you bothered to actually commit to memory like they did.

Widely admired, was the term to describe it. You guessed you could understand why, his looks were pleasing to the eye, but there wasn’t much else you could draw from his personality, so you figured that was it for you. After seeing his sisters, and how... lovely they could be at times, you didn’t think there was much else to figure out.

“No, idiot, the other one walking at the front, he’s basically glowing,” Yuta clicked his tongue in annoyance, and your eyes had landed on the boy, shorter and definitely younger than Hyunjin, but no less beautiful. Looking even closer, you realised he was glowing, unmistakably a very Aphrodite way of claiming him as her son.

You frowned, turning back to Yuta, “that’s a lot prettier than how Ares claimed us, isn’t it?” you laughed, “why are you so interested anyway? It’s not the first time you’re seeing someone get claimed,” you dismissed him, drawing another arrow and firing it at the target, a small smile of satisfaction on your face when it hit the center.

Yuta shrugged, his hand coming up to flick his hair away from his eyes, “dunno, just thought it was cool. Since that means he’ll be on our side for the games too,” he explained, clearly having abandoned his archery practice with the way he’d let his bow hang loose next to his side, swinging it as he stood next to you with a hand on his hip.

“I don’t have very high hopes for that,” you murmured, shooting another arrow at the target, Yuta letting out an impressed low whistle at the thud, “they don’t strike me as the... fighting type.”

Yuta rolled his eyes, “are you done soon? I’m hungry,” he frowned, “and by the way, I'd be careful what I say about Aphrodite’s kids.”

You flashed him a tight-lipped smile, sceptical about his insistence, “what are they gonna do, smolder me to death?”

Yuta rolled his eyes, a scoff leaving him, “well they probably could. Look, if anything, I'm more afraid of their powers than Poseidon’s kids.”

You couldn’t help yourself from the face you made at the mention of the water-wielding demigods, earning a small grunt of amusement from Yuta, only then realising what he could’ve gotten from your expression.

About to interject, Yuta had continued, “I’m guessing you heard Jaehyun’s back?”

You sighed deeply, recalling your conversation with Jeongin that morning, nodding as you made your way back to the Ares cabins with Yuta strolling calmly next to you. Keeping your footsteps brisk, you dumped your armour onto the floor next to your bunk while Yuta did so with his as well, meeting him back at the door and leaving the cabin just as quickly as you came, still having not found an answer to Yuta’s question.

Though as you were busy forming a response to him, you felt yourself getting annoyed, or heavily annoyed for that matter, turning to Yuta with a scowl.

“Stop doing that,” you scolded him, making him raise his hands in a shrug, feigning nonchalance.

“What? You didn’t answer my question,” he defended, making you narrow your eyes at him, relieved when the feelings of anger and annoyance had diffused out of you within a matter of seconds.

“Thank you,” you sighed.

If you had to choose, that was one of your least favourite amongst Ares’ gifts. Sure, being skilled at fighting and the strength you had was a pro, of course. But being able to manipulate someone’s feelings of rage and fear was not something you found very necessary.

Unless you were Yuta, of course, and used it for the sake of getting someone’s attention.

“Why does everyone keep telling me about Jaehyun?” you blurted eventually, making Yuta shoot you a pointed look.

“He’s a legend, it’s basically our duty to talk about him,” Yuta snickered, grabbing your hand to pull you towards the mess hall as if deciding that your speed wasn’t fast enough for him.

“What’s so exciting about him?” you scoffed, letting Yuta lead you to a table where you saw your friends already seated, not missing the way Yuta had shoved you aside with his hip in his attempt to be seated closer to Ten, one of the sons of Aphrodite.

Seeming to have forgotten about Jaehyun, Yuta had focused on his conversation with Ten, leaving you to eat in peace.

“Hey, just came from practice?” you heard Seungmin ask you, taking a seat facing you while you tried to ignore the way Hyunjin had taken a seat next to Ten at the same time, his proximity making it harder for you not to look at him.

Turning to the said son of Athena, you nodded (albeit distractedly), earning a soft smile from him, “same here. Are you excited?”

Assuming he was referring to the games, you offered him a small shrug, “I guess, kind of curious to see how the new Ares kids handle it,” you tried your best to remain nonchalant even though you could hear Yuta asking the newer Aphrodite kid what he liked about being one of Aphrodite’s sons.

Seungmin nodded thoughtfully, “yeah, I saw some of them just now at the arena, but I doubt you’d have to worry, you could take half the Hermes kids on your own,” Seungmin laughed, making you wave him off.

Seungmin had seemed to find Ten and Yuta’s discussion interesting as well, turning his head to listen in as you brought your cup to your lips, frowning as you tried to pick up on what they were talking about.

You couldn’t help yourself from letting your gaze flicker between Ten and Hyunjin, hearing Ten cut in and explain something about acting cute and effortlessly getting people to do what you want them to do, all while you saw Hyunjin turning to ask one of Apollo’s daughters next to him if she had a tissue, the girl seeming almost compelled as she stood up and made her way to the far end of the table to grab a small packet of tissues for Hyunjin.

You had to refrain from scoffing, turning back to Ten with a sweet smile, your tone as lighthearted as it could be, “guess people just do things for you if you’re pretty, right?”

Ten seemed to have no qualms in agreeing with you, nodding at you with a smirk, “exactly.”

Hyunjin heard you of course, not knowing if that was a hint of spitefulness he detected in your tone, and you didn’t miss the way he’d looked up to meet your eyes, something about his gaze almost making it hard for you to look away, but you did. Scanning your attire, Hyunjin couldn’t help the small huff that left his lips.

Daughter of Ares, he should’ve figured abrasive words would’ve come with the package.

Deciding to dismiss it, Hyunjin turned back to Chan who was seated in front of him, rejoining whatever conversation they were having about swimming in the lake with ease. He would just forget about it, it wasn’t like picking a fight with the war god’s child was part of his agenda for the day.

Well, of course, that was until the time came to play capture-the-flag and Hyunjin found himself so unfortunately partnered with you to guard the flag. He should’ve just stayed with his sisters to cheer on the players.

You didn’t try to hide the fact that you were displeased, shooting a wide-eyed look at your Head Counselor Jaebum, who had simply dismissed you with a wave when you’d pulled him aside with a very annoyed glare on your face.

“Why can’t I guard with Yuta? I thought Aphrodite wasn’t playing,” you murmured harshly, fixing your armour roughly as you gripped the handle of your sword tightly, your heart sinking when you saw the way Jaebum had simply smiled, reaching his hand out to shove your helmet onto your head, flicking the red hairs that stuck out from the top with a laugh.

“There’s no time for you to complain, trust me, Hyunjin’s good,” he dismissed your hesitance, waving you off as he began to head elsewhere with the rest, “you’d better guard it properly,” he warned before leaving with the rest, the clinking of their shields against their armour growing softer the further they went.

Grabbing the flag from the floor with a huff, you’d started heading towards the lake, shoving the flag harshly through the pebbles to secure it in the ground, a small huff of annoyance leaving you as you squinted up at the sky, the summer heat annoying you even more.

Not being able to find it in you to relax, especially with the knowledge that Hyunjin was here, you paced around the flag, your hand placed protectively above your scabbard, the other hand on your hip as you eyed your surroundings.

Hyunjin on the other hand, seemed unaffected, and you heard the rustling of the pebbles as he sat down, his sword next to him and his hands behind him supporting his weight. To anyone else, he would’ve looked completely at ease, his head lifted to face the sky, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the warmth.

Though his ease didn’t last for long, the constant crunching of the pebbles and the annoyed scoffs that left your lips every now and then drawing his attention back to you.

Hyunjin never really liked Ares, he momentarily wondered if you were similar in the aspects he disliked as well, since the behaviour you were displaying right now was very...not typical of an Ares.

“Are all Ares demigods as high-strung as you?” Hyunjin furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance, “your pacing’s gonna give us away.”

Your head whipped around quickly, scoffing at him, “yeah, well, excuse me for feeling responsible for the flag,” you huffed.

Hyunjin didn’t understand why you took the games so seriously, (frankly you didn’t either), but you both figured it was the streak of Ares in you that made you feel competitive, but nonetheless, Hyunjin wasn’t amused.

“It’s not just your responsibility, you know. Jaebum literally asked me to guard it with you.”

You let out a half-hearted laugh, your words coming out in choppy bursts as if there were a million other things in your head that were fighting to be said, “yeah, well, I guess you could say that’s why i’m even more on edge.”

Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at you, wanting you to look in his direction but you didn’t seem to be giving him the time of day, your eyes still searching the woods in front of you for any sign of someone else.

“Look,” Hyunjin felt himself growing annoyed, “I don’t know what you have against me but now’s not exactly the time to be angry at me.”

You hadn’t realised, but your agitated state had been unconsciously manipulating Hyunjin’s feelings, making him more annoyed the more he saw you pace.

“Jaebum’s being stupid. He shouldn’t have put you here with me,” you sighed, more to yourself than to Hyunjin.

“You don’t trust me,” Hyunjin murmured, his tone giving away his surprise (or lack thereof), already moving to stand up, dusting the dirt off of his pants as he kept his gaze fixed on you.

You turned to face him, unaffected by his presence unlike the other day, now, Hyunjin noticed your gaze was much firmer.

“Yes, I don’t,” you told him, “forgive me for saying this but, you and your siblings don't necessarily have a very good track record when it comes to combat.”

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest, “yeah, well, ” he mimicked your tone from before, “brute force isn’t the only way you can win, you know.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, wondering for a moment what exactly were the gifts that aphrodite had bestowed on her children to warrant such confidence from Hyunjin. You figured he was just trying to divert your attention from the fact that they really weren’t one to fight.

“So, i’m right? You don’t fight?”

You wouldn’t usually have been so... annoying, maybe it was your annoyance at Jaebum making itself known to Hyunjin, and in turn making Hyunjin annoyed at you as well.

Hyunjin took a small step closer to you, holding himself at arms length as he got a good look at your eyes.

Pretty, you thought, but probably not what you should’ve been focusing on at the moment.

And you really shouldn’t have, because you surely hadn’t expected Hyunjin to pull his sword from where it was on the ground abruptly, pointing it right at your throat, the slightest of smiles on his face, almost as if he was curious to see if you’d really lived up to what people said about you.

“I don’t know who you heard that from,” Hyunjin had an amused smirk on his face, something about him wanting to prove himself to you for some reason. The idea of protecting the flag already pushed to the far back of his mind.

You glanced down at the blade before you, pulling it ever so slowly out from its scabbard as you met his gaze again, something about it hardening when you could practically feel him challenging you.

There wasn’t a single sound between the both of you other than the sound of the wind blowing the trees and the lake flowing beside you. Clenching your jaw, you’d brought your sword up to push him out of the way with a grunt, seeing him dodge deftly when you swung it at his arm.

As if you weren’t already angered enough, you were shocked at how well he had been going against you, not paying much attention to what you were doing at this point, casting mindless swings and driving your elbow down on his shoulder, a small grunt leaving Hyunjin.

Swinging his sword at your back, you’d caught it with your sword, pushing back against him with as much force as you could muster, your swords coming in between the both of you, stuck there with the sheer force you were both applying.

Hyunjin had to admit that you were definitely stronger than him, almost giving up but too stubborn to do so, his other hand coming up to grab at your forearm, pushing your sword out of the way before his hand with his sword came up towards you.

Grabbing his hand quick enough, you’d shoved him away from you, bending to avoid another swing before turning, roughly bringing your sword to swing at him, hitting his chest and causing him to stumble back slightly, though what surprised you was how determined he was.

Regaining his stance quickly, as you dropped your shield angrily, he’d swung his sword just as you did, your swords colliding loudly as he brought his other hand to your hand, ripping your sword from your hand quicker than you could process and tossing it aside, his own sword coming to your throat once again, his other grand gripping onto your free hand firmly.

With how focused you were on fighting each other, the both of you hadn’t even realised Jaebum’s presence there, the said head counselor quietly observing you as Hyunjin tried to use his charmspeak on you. Being one of the (very few) children of Aphrodite that had this ability, Jaebum couldn’t help but be curious as to how this would play out.

You contemplated trying to summon your sword back, but as you were about to, he’d spoken up, distracting you.

“Pick up the flag,” he told you, in what you assumed was the most enchanting tone you’d heard from him, moreso with the way he was looking at you.

Hyunjin’s face was mere inches away from you, gripping your wrist even despite the gash you’d made on his palm, too absorbed in his motive to pay any attention to the pain. Something about his gaze had unsettled you, the pleasant smell of his perfume almost seeming out of place with the strong demeanour he was showing you now, making you curious as to what else there was about him that you were getting wrong in your head.

And he waited, he waited for your eyes to glaze over and for you to obediently walk over to the flag and pick it up without a single bit of defiance like how everyone else did. Except you didn’t.

His request had caught you off guard, making you furrow your eyebrows as your lips parted in confusion, “why the hell would I do that?”

Shoving his hand holding his sword away from you, you huffed, turning to see Jaebum and a few of the newer Ares and Athena kids standing there in shock. Well, at least most of them were in shock, Jaebum’s expression was all-too-amused.

Hyunjin stood, dumbfounded at the fact that his power hadn’t worked on you, turning to face Jaebum with his lips in a pout as Jaebum cleared his throat.

Ignoring the annoyed furrow to your brow, Jaebum brought a hand up to rub his exposed arm over his tattoo, “we... won...” he stopped to let a small laugh escape him, “you guys can bring the flag back.”

You huffed, moving to pick up your sword, shoving it into your scabbard, still confused at the fact that Hyunjin had just asked you to pick up the flag for no reason after what he did.

Turning back to Hyunjin, you saw him about to open his mouth, wanting to ask if you were going to take the flag with how he gestured to it.

Shaking your head as you were already making your way back, you said, “take the stupid flag, I don’t want it.”

It was only when you were with the rest in the amphitheatre did you realise Hyunjin had made an impression on you in more ways than just through surprising you.

You were making your way through the crowd to find Jeongin when you’d spotted Jaehyun, his hair messy and slightly damp with perspiration, giving you a friendly smile as he lifted his glass to you.

You saw him making his way over to you, his armour long discarded as he stood in his long sleeved t-shirt and cargo pants, pushing his hair back only to make it even messier.

“Hey, it was a good game just now, where were you?” he asked.

“Oh, I was just guarding the flag.”

Jaehyun nodded, a hum of understanding leaving him. Bringing his cup up to his lips, his gaze darted to your arm, his eyes widening as a sharp hiss left him, “hey, that’s a pretty bad cut, how’d you get that?”

You frowned, your eyebrows raising, a hum of confusion leaving you. Only realising when Jaehyun had reached a hand out to grasp your elbow gently, lifting your arm gently to draw your attention to the gash on your arm, the blood having gotten onto your shirt without you realising.

“Oh,” you hummed, shaking your head in dismissal at Jaehyun, “no it’s fine, it doesn’t hurt. I’ll just get Jeongin to help me patch it up later.”

Jaehyun’s forehead creased slightly as his eyebrows lifted, “really? I can help you with it now, if you want,” he offered, a soft smile on his face.

Turning to look over at where Jeongin and Yuta were seated at one of the steps of the ampitheatre, you tried not to let their knowing smiles fluster you, turning back to Jaehyun with a shake of the head.

“It’s fine, don’t wanna trouble you, but thanks for offering,” you assured him.

“What brings you back?” you asked, your curiosity getting the better of you, seeing his smile widen, giving you a shrug.

“For fun, honestly. I’m on break at university anyway, so I figured I might as well.”

Your lips parted in realisation, nodding slowly, “your girlfriend didn’t mind you leaving?”

He shook his head, “yeah, she was going back home to visit her family anyway,” you nodded, sighing in relief with the knowledge that he still had a girlfriend so whatever Jeongin said was baseless.

Jaehyun glanced behind you, spotting Yuta and Jeongin sitting at the steps, pressing his lips together so his dimples showed, “shouldn’t keep you any longer, your friends are waiting. See you later,” he had a hand gently on your shoulder, pulling it back to give you a small wave before you’d left to join Yuta and Jeongin at the steps.

“Ouch,” Yuta hissed, eyeing your arm, “who did that?” he nodded his head towards your arm, drawing Jeongin’s attention to the wound.

You huffed, gesturing towards the group of Aphrodite’s children gathered closer to the fire, “Hyunjin,” you offered half-heartedly.

Jeongin’s eyes widened, “Hyunjin? But why? Wasn’t he on your side?”

Yuta’s attention was still searching the group of them, observing the way Hyunjin had a little bit of bandage peeking out from the arm of his sleeveless shirt, a small scratch on his cheek and his palm wrapped with a bandage as well.

“Are you sure it wasn’t someone trying to get the flag?” Jeongin prompted, as if trying to wrack his brain to recall anybody from his side to making it that far over to your side.

“No,” you shook your head, leaning back in your seat with a sigh as you brought your cup to your lips, “just him.”

“What? Why would he do that, though?” Jeongin hummed. You knew he was friends with Hyunjin, so his confusion was catching you even more off guard.

You shook your head, “I’d rather... not talk about it right now,” you sighed, “can you help me with this?” you turned to Jeongin, gesturing to your arm.

You missed the look Jeongin cast Hyunjin’s way, nodding at you as he stood up, probably going to get the first-aid box he kept in his cabin. Yuta cast a brief glance in your direction before letting out a snort.

“I can feel how annoyed you are,” Yuta drawled, jokingly, of course.

You drew your gaze away from Hyunjin, turning to look at Yuta, “I’m not annoyed, ” you murmured, “just... surprised.”

Yuta quirked an eyebrow at you, “pleasantly surprised?” You waved him off, “don’t get too carried away.”

Daring yourself to look back at Hyunjin, you’d surprised yourself when you noticed he was looking in your direction as well, drawing his gaze away with a certain calmness to his gesture that made you almost unable to look away. Something about it still felt so... unsettling to you.

From what you knew, Aphrodite was the goddess of love, of beauty, but what you saw from Hyunjin was a whole other side of that, beauty with a certain kind of strength you weren’t used to witnessing. An almost unassuming kind of strength, something about it only making you more curious about him.

But after your interaction with him today, you weren’t so sure that you wanted to cause more problems for yourself. You figured if you just stayed out of his way, you would probably still be able to ensure yourself a peaceful summer. That was the plan, at least.

===

What you didn’t realise was that camp half-blood was a lot smaller than you thought it was, especially with how often you were running into Hyunjin after that day.

You were on your way to The Forge, since you’d come up with a plan to forge a sword this week, feeling in need of something that suited your own tastes more. In other words, you were bored out of your mind.

However, on your way to the place, you’d bumped into Hyunjin as you were making your way past the mess hall, unconsciously frowning at the sight of him, making him scoff, walking beside you with that same air of elegance he always carried himself with (a contrary to you who was trying to walk faster than him in your own unspoken petty competition).

Hyunjin wasn’t sure why he was entertaining your competition, also trying to walk quicker than you, his hair bouncing lightly atop his head as he walked briskly, making you realise halfway how stupid the both of you probably looked, halting your footsteps halfway to turn to him with narrowed eyes.

“Stop,” you told him firmly, making his eyes widen, his hand raising to point a finger at himself.

“Me?” Hyunjin scoffed, “you started it first.”

You opened your mouth to speak, closing it quickly, curious to why he was heading in the same direction as you, “stop following me.”

Though your question came out in a rather roundabout way, you figured that was the extent your pride allowed you to go to for now.

Hyunjin folded his arms, unsure why you were so proficient at bringing out the petty side of him, “you stop following me, ” he shot back, his height making him look more intimidating despite his expression showing nothing but child-like stubbornness (similarly to yours).

“I’m not, I’m going to The Forge!”

“I’m going to the Stables!” He shot back at the same time as you, as if it were even a competition to answer first.

Hyunjin hummed, so you were going to The Forge.

The information made Hyunjin curious as to what you were planning on making or fixing there, though he didn’t want to pursue it, still upset that the wound you inflicted on his hand made it hard for him to ride the pegasi.

Whereas you had to stop yourself from thinking about what an elegant thing riding pegasi would be, especially if it was Hyunjin doing it.

Pushing the thought to the back of your head, you huffed, leaving him to continue on your way to the Forge, his footsteps behind you barely audible until you’d both parted ways.

And so it continued. You would alternate between joining Jeongin to do some painting or sculpting and working on your sword, yet somehow you would always manage to run into Hyunjin one way or another.

For a moment, you thought this was some sort of punishment from your father for calling him a whiny bitch, warranting Hyunjin’s presence wherever you went.

It was either on your way to the Forge, or even when you would turn while painting to stare at the lake only to spot Hyunjin sitting at the corner of the area sculpting something with clay, it seemed as though wherever you went, misfortune in the form of a certain Aphrodite-born boy would follow.

What irked you the most wasn’t the way he would make even spilling paint look graceful, or the way his contagious laugh would echo loudly around the area, or how his silver ring would clink against the glass water jar distractingly to the beat of whatever song he was listening to as he worked. Instead, it was his response (or lack thereof) whenever you would meet eyes, how he didn’t have the same reaction everyone else did. How instead of looking away he would keep his gaze firm, yet gentle. How he didn’t seem... scared.

Hyunjin knew this too, how everyone tended to stay away from Ares demigods in general due to their tendency to make people feel angry or upset and result in fights between campers, but Hyunjin was curious. He couldn’t help himself. He’d tried his powers on other Ares children before and they worked, so why were you the exception?

He was down at the Lake, his usual spot he would go to whenever he wanted to relax or clear his mind, since no one else really came here in the night, trying to clear his mind of thoughts of you, having been tormented by them for the whole day as he tried his charmspeak on different people just to make sure he wasn’t broken or anything.

Though it seemed even the lake was no exception to you, something in him feeling as though he wasn’t the only one there, and being proven right when he’d lifted his head from looking at his journal, turning to see you sitting not too far from where he was. Except this time you looked a little... different.

Hyunjin wasn’t sure if it was the softness of the moonlight, but something about the way you looked now with your hands supporting your weight behind you as you looked at the water sloshing around in the lake, moving your foot right and left lazily with your hair flowing freely with the wind and a serene expression on your face. Something about it was very different from the picture of a daughter of Ares that he’d painted in his head. If he didn’t know who you were, he would never have guessed your father was the angry, aggressive, battle-driven god among the olympians, finding something about it awfully refreshing.

Hyunjin had averted his gaze quickly, his hand coming up to grasp at his neck, wincing at the pain from turning his head too quickly.

Drumming his fingers on his journal lightly, Hyunjin slid it into the pocket of his jacket, not knowing you’d already seen him when you came here. He’d contemplated on starting a conversation with you, wondering if it was worth the energy since it’d probably just end up in another petty fight between the both of you.

Deciding against it in the end, Hyunjin stood up with a small sigh, his hand coming up to run his fingers through his hair as he trudged through the sandy ground before he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, walking past you when you’d spoken up.

“Didn’t they tell you?” you murmured, a slight teasing lilt to your tone, though it was sleepier than Hyunjin was used to hearing it.

Hyunjin turned his head to face you, his eyebrows raised in question, and a part of you just sighed at how unlucky you were that you had run into Hyunjin here too of all places.

“Tell me what?” he asked.

Hyunjin had a feeling you were about to crack a joke, with the way you tried (and failed) to contain your smile as you turned to look at him, a certain softness to your smile that came with sheer relaxation.

“You can see your reflection in the lake better in the daytime,” you grinned, making Hyunjin scoff, though he couldn’t help his amusement.

He shook his head at you, a forced laugh leaving him, “very funny, but i’m not Narcissus.”

There was a small pause that fell between the both of you, your arms coming up over your head in a stretch, a small yawn leaving you. Hyunjin hadn’t left yet, making you wonder if it was because he was surprised to see you here.

“I didn’t follow you here,” you added, “if that’s what you’re wondering.” You know, just for good measure.

Trust you to be straightforward, he thought.

Hyunjin figured he’d might as well take the opportunity to tease you as well, hoping it would help him regain whatever upper hand he thought he had in the exchange.

“Yeah, sure,” he drawled, turning and walking away before you could see his satisfied smile at your yelp of protest.

===

You were a little more excited than usual today, it’d been two weeks since you’d started forging your sword and today would be when you would be able to take it back and use it, the summer sun having started to set by the time you were done.

You were proud of it, frankly. It may have looked like any other sword, but the way it felt was different, it was less prone to wear during rough use as compared to your previous sword, the blade made to be sharper and sturdier. Not to mention how the handle was a perfect fit for your hand. Though you wished you’d had the power of conjuring up a weapon like some of the other children of Ares did, your powers were rather limited to just summoning your weapons and manipulating their material.

It was as if Ares knew you weren’t the most careful with your things.

You’d spotted one of the sons of Hermes, Minho, making their way into the armory as you were leaving, not bothering to greet him as you crossed paths. You knew who he was very well, and what a reputation he had for pranks in the camp, though you’d fortunately never been at the brunt of any.

But that didn’t change the fact that you were feeling just the slightest bit hesitant, at first, something almost prompting you to bring it back to the Cabin first before you went for dinner but eventually you figured it was fine. It was only for a short period of time anyway. You doubted people would want to steal swords in a place like this.

Meeting your friends at the mess hall for dinner, Jeongin eyed you suspiciously when he’d caught you smiling at your soup for the fifth time that meal.

“Something good happen?” he asked, making you nod eagerly.

“Guess,” you told him, seeing his lower lip jut out in a thoughtful pout, his hand coming up to touch his chin before his eyes had widened, his smile growing.

“Jaehyun—”

“No,” you narrowed your eyes at him in warning, making him burst into giggles, his hand raising in surrender.

“Okay, fine, fine...” he hummed, “oh! You finished your sword?” he asked, earning a nod from you.

“Just finished it this afternoon, it’s in the workshop now but i’m gonna go get it later,” you told him, biting into your food with a satisfied sigh.

Jeongin made a sound of awe, his excitement written all over his features, “can I go with you? I wanna see it.”

You nodded, “yeah sure.”

“Is Yuta coming too?” he asked, earning a shake of the head from you.

“Nope,” you told him, “he’s going over to the Aphrodite cabin for some party,” a small giggle leaving you as you recalled how excited Yuta was to hang out with Ten.

“Aphrodite cabin, huh,” Jeongin snickered, making you nod knowingly.

“I know,” you sighed, bringing your cup to your lips to finish the rest of your drink.

Jeongin tossed his used tissue onto his now-empty tray, “well I’m ready to go, you?” he asked, glancing at you for confirmation.

Giving him a nod, you’d both cleared your trays and made your way out of the mess hall, though as you were on your way out, you couldn’t help but notice the stares you were getting from the other campers as you made your way past the cabins. You’d dismissed their stares quickly, thinking nothing of it until Jeongin had let out a small hum of discomfort.

“Is it just me, or...” he grimaced, clearing his throat, “are they staring?” he asked you, twisting his ring around his index finger.

You nodded, giving him a small shrug as you brushed your flyaway hairs away from your face, the wind blowing it haphazardly around.

“Thought so, but it’s alright, I mean. As far as I know we’re fine ‘cause Jaebum hasn’t summoned us anywhere yet,” you huffed, already nearing the workshop when you’d seen a small group of people gathered there, one being Minho, who was currently crouched over something you couldn’t quite see.

“What’s that?” Jeongin murmured, more to himself than anything.

You watched as Minho had slowly emerged from his crouching position, looking at you with pleading eyes and his hands waving in front of him almost as if in reassurance, a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.

“Y/N, I can explain, I’m really sorry I don’t know what happened I was just doing my own thing and I didn’t know that I was actually—”

“What happened?” you cut him off, his rambling only making your anxiousness grow. Looking at him with confusion written all over your features, you hoped dearly that your suspicions would be proved wrong.

Jeongin watched with horror in his wide eyes as Minho had pulled out what looked like your (now cut up) sword.

Furrowing your eyebrows, you looked back at Minho You were sure your sword wasn’t as hard or brittle enough to have broken like this, you would’ve known, you’d consulted the many sons and daughters of Hephaestus that had come and gone from The Forge while you worked and researched on what would be best for your sword. You were sure they, the sons of a blacksmith of all people, extremely skilled at crafting, wouldn’t have allowed you to make a sword that could get damaged so easily.

“How... did this happen?” you asked him, oblivious to the way the people there were looking on curiously, eager to see if you would live up to the typical Ares tendencies and go into a fit of blind rage.

“I thought this was my sword and I was gonna melt it down to cut it but then I realised too late that it wasn’t mine,” he admitted, his tone sounding too remorseful for you to be more angry at him.

Now that, you could believe.

You looked back at the sword and back at him, not wanting to look at your sword any longer as you inhaled deeply, hearing someone murmur that you looked as though you could kill Minho.

Jeongin heard it too, felt it even, the sheer anticipation from the crowd that you would prove them right that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. They didn’t believe you were capable of controlling your temper, not when all your other siblings couldn’t. And you were glad you realised it, that if you acted on your anger right now, you wouldn’t be doing anything other than perpetuating their image of you as someone that so predictably craved war.

A silence fell between you and Minho, aside from the hushed whispers and murmuring that could be heard from the other campers around you, feeling Jeongin’s hand touch your shoulder gently.

You shook your head, hoping you came across as more reassuring than wanting to kill Minho, a small murmur of an ‘okay’ leaving you before you’d turned away from him, leaving with Jeongin without another word.

Of course, your reaction came to the other campers as a shock, none of them having seen you display such an eerie calmness before. They were sure if the same thing had been done to Yuta, he wouldn’t have held back on showing just how upset he was, but you’d reacted in the least typically Ares way imaginable.

And Hyunjin thought so too.

He had been bored out of his mind waiting for the sons of Dionysus to show up with the drinks, sitting leisurely on the plush sofa in the big living room as he fiddled with his hair, glancing at the door every now and then as he pretended to be interested in whatever gossip his sisters were divulging amongst themselves.

“Did you hear?” one of them tapped on Hyunjin’s arm incessantly, making him turn to them with a bored expression, his fingers touching his ear absently as he prompted them to continue.

“Minho just had a run-in with Y/N,” she told him, her eyes beaming with excitement as though the information she shared was life-or-death, in a very entertainment channel kind of way.

Hyunjin frowned at the mention of your name, already trying to picture how that would’ve gone down, wondering if you’d pummeled Minho and had been the reason behind his absence at the party.

Well, that was until Minho had walked into the Aphrodite cabin looking absolutely unscathed, and Hyunjin decided that maybe he did want to know what happened.

“What happened?” he shifted in his seat, trying to appear nonchalant with his hand supporting the side of his head even despite his bubbling curiosity.

His sister had wasted no time in telling the story, “Minho broke Y/N’s sword because he thought it was his sword, and then when she was going to go get it he told her about it and she looked really angry,” she told him, nodding gravely.

“You were there?” Hyunjin asked, his frown deepening, wondering for a moment what he was doing during that time. Probably lazing on his bed, he figured.

His sister’s mouth had shut quickly, her gaze darting to the ceiling, “well... no, I wasn’t, but that’s what I heard from Ten, who heard it from- okay, nevermind, the important part was that she looked angry, okay?”

Hyunjin knew about Minho’s... penchant for pranks, usually not bothering about them since they were pretty minor. But even he thought this went a little too far. You’d been working on that sword for what... a little more than two weeks? If Hyunjin were in your position, he was sure he would’ve been upset too.

“So... did she like... fight him or something?” he asked his sister, earning a shake of the head from her, which had only surprised him even more.

Hyunjin’s eyebrows raised, “really,” he mustered distractedly, glancing over at Minho who had looked absolutely unaffected, laughing at something Ten had just said.

“She just... left?” Hyunjin asked for confirmation again, not being able to wrap his head around the unpredictability of your reaction. Nothing about you seemed predictable to him, so far.

Maybe your offhand comments, or your skill with weaponry, sure, that was predictable, but even from that day playing capture-the-flag, Hyunjin knew there was something in you that was very much Ares, and very much not.

He wouldn’t have expected such a reaction from someone as strong-willed as you, but then again, as he thought more about it on his way to where Minho was, he thought that maybe he should have expected it. There was something akin to a quiet strength about your reaction, to him.

“Oh, hey,” Minho greeted Hyunjin with a nod in the kitchen as he poured himself another drink, Hyunjin letting out a deep breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.

“Why’d you do that to Y/N’s sword?” he’d asked abruptly, shocking himself with the imperative nature of his tone, and Minho didn’t mask his shock either, the boy looking at Hyunjin as if he’d grown another head.

“Look, I don’t usually give a shit about your pranks but... don’t you have to admit that was a little too much?” his tone had calmed down considerably, maintaining his calm exterior as he gave Minho a small shrug.

Minho let out a snort, nodding slowly, “dude... you know I didn’t actually destroy it, right?”

Hyunjin’s lips parted in surprise, his tongue peeking out to wet his lips as he ran his fingers through his hair again, the whole situation proving to be very unnecessary to him. It seemed, whenever it came to you Hyunjin always found himself feeling emotions he wasn’t used to feeling, things like defensiveness, annoyance, though nothing about it was unwelcome to him, strangely. That part, he had yet to figure out fully.

“Then why’d you do it?” Hyunjin wondered out loud.

Minho shrugged, “wanted to see if she was as temperamental as the rest of them. Think about it, she’s never really...lost her temper like the rest of them.”

“Why do you care anyway?” Minho continued, “I didn’t recall anything about you two being friends,” Hyunjin was caught off guard by the implication.

Looking elsewhere, Hyunjin let out a small scoff, “I don’t, okay? I just... felt bad for her,” he tried to reason, “she worked hard on that sword.”

Shrugging, Hyunjin let out another huff of disbelief, removing his jacket with how stuffy it started to feel in the house.

“Whatever, why am I even explaining this to you,” he muttered, “where’d you put the actual sword?”

Minho eyed Hyunjin curiously, shaking his head with a small smile on his face as he gestured outside the house, “it’s still in the workshop.”

Sighing deeply, Hyunjin rolled his eyes at his own expense, giving Minho a firm pat on the shoulder before he left, his mind a swarm of reasons why he shouldn’t have been doing this, even stopping himself in front of The Forge to just be absolutely sure he was going to go out of his way to deliver a sword to someone he wasn’t on the best terms with.

But he did anyway, and that was what ended Hyunjin up holding your sword in its sheath and grimacing non-stop along with his annoyed mumbles on his very hesitant path towards the lake where he figured you would be.

Sure enough, Hyunjin had sighed in relief when he’d spotted you sitting at your usual spot, your knees propped up closer to your chest and your arms folded and resting upon them, your back facing him.

Shaking whatever hesitance there was left in him, Hyunjin cleared his throat, sighing when you hadn’t turned around.

You weren’t in the mood to have another bickering session with Hyunjin, as a matter of fact, already upset enough at the fact that you not only had to make another sword for yourself, but that the other campers probably just viewed you as some sort of ticking time bomb that they couldn’t wait to set off.

About to take another step towards you, you’d sighed, one of your hands going to pick at the hem of your pants, “shouldn’t you be busy shooting love arrows or something?” you huffed.

Hyunjin’s eyes widened, freezing in place behind you, “how’d you know it was me?”

You shrugged, not wanting to admit that it was the same pleasant floral scent that brought back your memory of that day playing capture-the-flag that had let you know it was him, the scent being somehow unmistakably Hyunjin that your mind seemed to have automatically associated the two together.

“And again,” he huffed, “just because Aphrodite’s my mom doesn’t mean i’m cupid.”

You hummed patronisingly, “what do you want?”

Hyunjin sighed, making his way in front of you, holding your sword out in front of you, your eyes narrowing at him as you took the sword from him slowly.

“It’s yours,” he murmured, “it wasn’t actually destroyed.”

If Hyunjin had expected to receive an appreciative expression of thanks, maybe he should’ve gone to someone else.

You stood up abruptly, a small gasp leaving you.

“Were you the one behind all of this?” your brows furrowed in annoyance, pointing your sword at him with its sheath still on, making Hyunjin step back slightly.

Hyunjin’s eyes widened in shock, a scoff leaving him despite his hands finding their way beside his head in a gesture of surrender, “why are you getting mad at me? I didn’t do anything, I was just returning this to you,” he defended himself.

Maybe Hyunjin was just unlucky, he thought, if only you would have reacted this way to Minho instead of him.

“How do I know you weren’t the one that planned all of this?” you’d almost moved to jab your sword towards him, Hyunjin having anticipated your move and grabbed your sword by it’s sheath, his other hand coming to your wrist and pushing it away from him, ripping the sword from your grip and holding it over his head.

“Excuse you, I left a party just to go and get this hunk of metal and return it to you,” he narrowed his eyes at you, “and this is how you thank me?”

You frowned, confusion prominent in your features as you dropped your hands to your sides limply, “why would you do that?”

Frankly not knowing the reason either, Hyunjin opened and closed his mouth as he fumbled for an answer, tilting his chin up in defiance when he scoffed eventually.

“Fine, if you don’t want this I can just go throw it in the lake or something—”

You stopped him quickly, a yelp of protest leaving you as your hand found its way around his wrist.

Hyunjin hadn’t missed the pleading look in your eyes that flashed for just a second, his grip around your sword loosening as he let you take it back, slightly amused at the way you’d let out an annoyed huff, holding your sword protectively next to you.

“You’re so annoying,” you mumbled grumpily, “didn’t know someone that came from the goddess of love could be such a pain in the ass. ”

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow at you, something about him finding your expression akin to that of a child as you sulked, not being able to help himself from prodding you further in retaliation.

Taking a step closer to you, Hyunjin licked his lips as he tried to think of a response, taking his lower lip between his teeth and letting it go with a slowness that had only served to heighten the tension of the silence.

“What about you, then? I’m sure you live up to what they say about Ares children craving fights and anger, right?” You couldn’t help but feel as though he were challenging you, as if he wanted you to prove him wrong, a feeling in his gut telling him that you would. He was confident in that, (also because he kind of hoped you would).

You’d met Hyunjin’s gaze, his words seeming to have struck a chord with you, a small pause ensuing before you’d shook your head slowly, averting your gaze from him, your gaze unconsciously flickering to the sky as a brief thought had crossed your mind on whether Ares would be angry at you for saying what you were about to say.

But you didn’t think you really cared.

“I don’t... fight without reason, okay?” you cursed yourself mentally for the way your words came out as a mumble, missing the small hint of a smile playing at Hyunjin’s lips, something making you want to look up at him.

Hyunjin nodded at you, liking the answer you gave him for the first time, “good. Me too.”

You’d met his gaze, finally, the sloshing of the lake behind you and the coolness of the summer night almost drowning out your next words.

“Good,” you murmured, “let’s... not give each other a reason, then.”

Shocking you with his reaction, Hyunjin had nodded, turning away as he tried to stifle his smile, his hand coming up to run his fingers through his hair again, only to have it fall softly back against his head.

“Go,” you murmured, not being able to tolerate the tension any longer, “join back your party.”

Hyunjin quirked an eyebrow at you, though he nodded nonetheless, a strange feeling within him after the interaction you’d just shared.

Leaving without another word, you turned your sword around in your hands, thankful to Hyunjin for doing something like that for you even though you’d been nothing but unfriendly to him recently, figuring that this could have been a peace offering of some sort.

And just for a moment, you thought, maybe he wasn’t as bad as you thought he was.

===

And maybe you were right about the whole peace offering thing, since after that day, it was safe to say that Hyunjin and you hadn’t bickered like you did before, tolerating each other’s presence whenever you would both be at the lake at the same time in the night, greeting each other with curt nods when you would walk past each other.

You were having dinner at the mess hall before another game of capture-the-flag that would start at 6 o’clock. Jaehyun had found his way to your table and seated himself next to you, so you were seated in between him and Jeongin, with Chan, Yuta and another son of Ares sitting in front of you.

Hyunjin was seated next to the newer Ares kid, minding his own business as he ate his food, his sisters on his other side talking about the pegasi riding lessons as Hyunjin tried his best to pay attention to the conversation you were having.

You’d been talking about some sort of event the camp was holding in the amphitheatre soon, something like a movie night. In other words, simply an excuse for the older kids to ask for dates to watch a movie with them.

“Are you gonna ask anyone?” Chan had asked Jaehyun, making Jeongin give you a look that was a little too obvious for your liking.

You weren’t able to see Jaehyun’s reaction, since you were seated next to him, not that you cared much about it anyway since you knew it wouldn’t have meant anything.

Choosing to keep your gaze fixed on your food, you prodded at it with your fork as you waited for Jaehyun’s response, almost sighing when he’d cleared his throat, shrugging, “dunno, I guess.”

You missed the way Hyunjin’s gaze wandered from Jaehyun to Jeongin, to you, his mind running wild with possible reasons why Jeongin looked like Jaehyun had just told a joke instead of the response he just gave.

He recalled hearing from his sister the other day that Jaehyun had broken up with his girlfriend from back home, something stirring in him when he’d considered the thought that maybe Jaehyun had his eyes set on you. Not that Hyunjin was in any position to have a problem about it, of course, Jaehyun was free to like whoever he wanted, but something in Hyunjin almost wished for a moment that the feeling in his gut would be wrong for once.

Dismissing the thought quickly, he’d averted his gaze from Jaehyun, focusing on finishing his drink instead.

You looked up briefly to cast a glare at Jeongin, thankful to Yuta who had spoken up, uninterested in the topic of who Jaehyun’s choice of date was.

“Who says we have to bring dates? Why don’t we just go as a group of friends?” Yuta shrugged, Chan letting out a small giggle in response.

“That would be cute, I don’t mind that,” he agreed, Hyunjin nodding in agreement.

“Can I join? I’d rather not let my sisters try to matchmake me again this time,” Hyunjin grimaced, making you unintentionally perk up at the mention of matchmaking, wondering who they had in mind that would be a good fit for him, running through your mental list as you continued to prod at your food.

“Oh yeah, cause you guys are like children of cupid or something, right?” the boy snickered, something about his tone striking a nerve with you.

Did he really think a god as unpredictable and destructive as Ares was any better?

You had to refrain from rolling your eyes, “Aphrodite,” you quipped sternly, “it’s not that hard to remember.”

Jeongin had to stifle his laughter, and you continued to prod at your food, missing the small smile on Hyunjin’s face when you went back to eating as if you didn’t just say what you said.

The boy had immediately quietened down, afraid that he would warrant another chiding from you if he made another mistake, Jaehyun nudging you with an amused smile on his face.

“Go easy on the kid, he’s not familiar with how it works here yet.”

You huffed, unsure why you had felt so defensive over it as well. It wasn’t as if you hadn’t teased Hyunjin about it before. But maybe that was what irked you about the boy’s statement, how his tone sounded mocking almost, as if it wasn’t something to be proud of to be born from Aphrodite.

Sighing, you’d stood up, ready to get ready for the capture-the-flag game, turning to Jaehyun and scrunching your nose in distaste, “he’s gotta learn at some point.”

The sun was already beginning to set when you’d started the game, the sky growing darker the more the both of you made your way through the forest, keeping your footsteps as quiet as you could as Hyunjin walked with you.

Hyunjin and yourself had been on a separate path to find the other team’s flag, the both of you having been split up from the rest after being bombarded with a group of Hermes’ children.

“Should we go that way?” Hyunjin asked, pointing in the direction of the lake, making you shake your head.

“No, they probably have a bunch of Poseidon’s kids standing by there, and I don’t know about you, but I really don’t wanna end up fighting Chan.”

Hyunjin let out a small huff, halfway to a giggle, a small pause ensuing as you stepped over a branch, turning to gesture to the branch as a warning to Hyunjin, hearing him murmur a small thanks to you. Something between the both of you felt more comfortable now, less hostile definitely, but something about it still felt tense, you just couldn’t exactly place the cause of the tension.

“Can I ask you a question?” Hyunjin asked, pulling you from your thoughts, his voice soft but loud enough for you to hear.

You nodded, “what?” you prompted, turning when you’d felt a movement, relaxing when you realised it was just a dove.

“You’re not very fond of your dad, are you?” he asked, making you inhale deeply, huffing through your nose.

You turned to him with a sceptical look on your face, “are you? ” you scoffed.

“So, i’ll take that as a no?”

You paused, giving him a small nod.

Hyunjin hummed softly, reaching a hand up to push the overhanging leaf out of the way before it could hit your head without you realising.

“Can I ask why?” he hummed, his footsteps delicately treading on the ground softly in contrast with you who were simply walking normally.

You shrugged, “guess it never really felt like I fit into the ideals he wants in his children? You know? Like all that... destruction and aggression without reason, it just didn’t feel right to me,” you shrugged.

Hyunjin hummed, as if prompting you to continue, slightly distracted when he contemplated if he should offer his helmet to you since you didn’t have one.

“It felt kind of weird, to be honest, when he claimed me,” you shared, thankful that Hyunjin made you feel as though you could share these things with him without being attacked for not respecting your father. “It kind of felt like it was wrong.”

Hyunjin let out a small giggle at that, a small sound of disagreement leaving him, “I wouldn’t say totally wrong,” he offered, making your eyebrows raise in question, curious to hear what he had to say.

“You know, you’re strong-willed, passionate about what you want, good at combat,” he told you, making you huff in your attempt to suppress the strange feeling within you at Hyunjin’s words. Hyunjin himself felt as though such words were foreign to him, or maybe it was the intention behind the words. He wasn’t sure.

“Thanks,” you murmured softly, the way your voice had come out as a mere squeak making you scrunch your nose up in distaste.

“What about you?” you asked, hearing a confused hum leave him.

“Am I fond of my mom?”

You turned to nod at him, seeing him shrug, “yeah, I guess. I guess the only downside I can think of is how we’re not the most... skilled at combat.”

You didn’t see it, but Hyunjin had to stop himself from letting his smile grow too big, especially because he knew his words had struck a chord with you.

Your breath hitched, feeling almost guilty hearing his words, not being able to help yourself from turning to him, stopping in your tracks in the middle of the path you were on.

“Sorry,” you told him, seeing him tilt his head at you, an expectant smirk on his face.

“For what?”

You shrugged, averting your gaze as you knocked your shield against his gently, embarrassment taking over you at the awkward gesture, “you know, for... underestimating you.”

Daring yourself to meet his gaze, you were surprised to say the least, when he’d simply smiled at you, his tongue moving to graze over his canine, “apology accepted.”

About to move forward, Hyunjin had stopped you abruptly, his hand on your wrist with urgency in the gesture, his voice dropping to a whisper, “Jaehyun.”

You wrinkled your nose in dismay, shaking your head, “probably means we’re near.”

You heard footsteps growing louder, not having expected Jaehyun to be alone, but you should’ve known he wasn’t, especially when you’d heard footsteps behind you, spotting Chan with Jaehyun, and the flag not far behind them.

“I’ll take Chan,” Hyunjin told you quicker than you could react, already wielding his sword as he proceeded to duel with Chan, while Jaehyun made his way slowly over to you, gripping his trident (a gift from Poseidon himself, he was very proud to inform whoever ) and using it to smack against the ground with small thuds as he grew closer.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he gave you a grin, his dimples showing cutely.

You rolled your eyes, not being able to stop yourself from smiling.

“Yeah, Jaebum didn’t put me on flag duty today, but I see you didn’t get so lucky?” you murmured, already pulling your sword out, the sound of Hyunjin and Chan fighting behind you making you wonder just where everyone else was, having expected them to reach the flag before you and Hyunjin could.

Jaehyun scoffed, “hey, I love flag duty.”

Already going into your ready stance, you wanted to laugh when Jaehyun had done so as well, not being able to take him very seriously from knowing him for so long.

And so you swung your sword, managing to nick him on the arm before your sword collided with his trident, though you tried to ignore the intimidating sharpness of its prongs as you continued to try your best, to dodge his swings and use your difference in size to your advantage. It was a blur to you, the whole process, like it usually was.

You figured it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, where you would get lost in the fighting that you wouldn’t even have time to think before you acted, your body seeming to move naturally with its one goal of getting your opponent out of the way.

Maybe you’d thank Ares for that detail.

After you realised Hyunjin had stopped fighting Chan, you’d let yourself get distracted by wondering how he’d managed to get Chan to give up so easily, giving Jaehyun the opportunity to deliver a particularly strong blow to your shoulder.

Stumbling back, your back hitting the tree behind you as Jaehyun brought his trident up, your hand grasping the spear tightly as you tried to pull it away from your neck, though Jaehyun had an advantage with his stance, holding it against your neck and caging you in place, the tip of one of the pointed ends nicking you just below your jaw when you’d moved particularly abruptly.

Hyunjin had noticed of course, but after he’d managed to get Chan to leave with his Charmspeak, you realised he was free to go get the flag.

So when you saw him coming behind Jaehyun, you used your hand to gesture to the flag, Hyunjin thankfully having gotten the hint and making a break towards the flag, more people having gathered as Jaehyun had let go of you finally, watching with a smile as Hyunjin had claimed the flag, looking at you with a dazed smile on his face.

Jaehyun helped you up from where you leaned against the tree, “he’s pretty good, isn’t he?” you heard him say.

“Who?” you frowned.

Jaehyun nodded his head towards Hyunjin, who was gracefully accepting the praise from the other campers as he made his way towards where you were.

You huffed, nodding, “yeah,” you murmured, “sure is.”

You were too tired to join for the celebration after the game, finding your way back to the Lake. (With how much you went there, people would have thought you were a daughter of Poseidon if not for the red motifs on your attire).

Having asked Jeongin if you could meet him later on after you showered for him to help you clean up your cuts like you would both usually do, you heard soft footsteps behind you, sighing in relief that Jeongin was finally here.

Only when the smell of that distinct flowery scent had grown stronger did you realise that was definitely not Jeongin, your suspicions proven when you saw Hyunjin seat himself down next to you, his hair wet and in a new change of clothes, having freshened up as well, glancing down to see a first-aid box in his hands.

But not any first-aid box, you realised, when you spotted the little stickers on the side of the opening, Jeongin’s first-aid box.

“Hope you don’t mind, Jeongin said he had to get something done,” Hyunjin’s hands came up to pull the neck of his white shirt higher, his bracelet sliding down on his arm, “may I?” he asked, your mouth still sealed shut in your uncertainty on how to respond.

You nodded belatedly, seeing him already taking out some antiseptic cream from the box with a small cotton bud, “oh, uh, no yeah, that’s fine.”

You took the liberty of taking an ice pack from Jeongin’s box, pressing it against the area where your neck met your shoulder, sighing softly, and maybe even cursing Jaehyun in your head for practically ramming your back into that tree just now.

“I didn’t know you were still injured,” Hyunjin murmured, looking at your neck and then back down at his hands, “thought you would’ve just asked Jaehyun to heal you or something.” His voice came out in mumbles as he concentrated on getting the tube open.

Hyunjin figured with how comfortable you looked around Jaehyun that you wouldn’t have hesitated to accept his help, especially since no one liked to live with their injuries if they could help it, but Hyunjin had to dismiss the thought quickly when he started to think about how closeby the Lake was to the Poseidon cabin, wondering if that was the reason behind your constant presence here.

Pursing your lips, you shook your head, a small laugh escaping you, “I don’t really wanna do that unless it’s super serious,” you began.

Hyunjin hummed, “sorry can you like, look there a little?” he gestured to your right, making you turn to your right, side-eyeing Hyunjin at the little giggle that left him.

“No, like,” you’d tensed up when you felt his hand reach forward to tilt your chin up gently, exposing your cut better to him, wincing slightly when the cotton bud had touched your cut.

“You were saying?” Hyunjin prompted you, making you hum in confusion before realising he was referring to the whole healing thing.

You shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess when you’re a demigod and even things like healing can be done just like that, everything can become really... instantaneous,” you explained, “guess it’s nice to have slow moments like these that kind of feel more like, normal and stuff,” your laughter came out in a small burst, feeling strangely embarrassed to be telling Hyunjin something that felt so stupid when it came out of your mouth.

“Scarring?” Hyunjin laughed, making you shoot him a pointed look, “I'm kidding. I get it.” he smiled, not knowing what came over him to decide to continue, “besides, if Jaehyun healed you, I wouldn’t get to be here right now,” he huffed.

You turned to him, trying to decipher what he meant by that yet at the same time feeling as if you knew, Hyunjin’s gaze fixed on your neck as he placed a small bandage over your cut there, his fingers grazing over the skin there in a way that made you freeze in place, something about his movements and gestures feeling as though they were balancing on the line between intentional and unintentional.

Hyunjin’s gaze shifted to your eyes, offering you a small (and slightly belated smile) before his gaze fell to your forearm, sucking in a sharp breath when he saw the wound, grimacing.

“I’m starting to think I should’ve let you fight Chan instead of Jaehyun,” he laughed, beginning to apply the cream with gentle touches to your arm, his neck craned over your arm, his hair falling over his eyes in a way that made you want to reach your hand out and run your hands through it to push it back, shocking yourself at your thought.

“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt,” you assured him, making him shake his head.

“Kind of think it would’ve been more for myself than for you,” he huffed, once again confusing you with the implication behind his words.

Pulling out a medium-sized dressing for your wound, he’d pressed it against your wound, securing it before his hands returned to his lap, Hyunjin almost forgetting himself for a moment with the tension he was feeling.

“All done,” he gave you a small smile, his shoulders relaxing as a barely-audible sigh left his lips, about to put the supplies back into the first-aid box when you’d stopped him, not knowing why your body seemed to be moving against your rational thought.

Your other hand came up to take the box from his hands slowly, shaking your head at him, “you’re injured too,” you pointed out, seeing his eyes widen and his lips part, a small scoff leaving him.

“It’s nothing,” he assured you, though his tone didn’t sound very convincing, a part of him simply refusing for the sake of refusing, “you don’t have to,” he tried again, knowing once again that his charmspeak didn’t work when you’d shook your head insistently.

“It’s something,” you dismissed him, though a small smile found its way onto your face as Hyunjin had wordlessly tugged the sleeve of his shirt up to expose the cut on his arm to you.

Hyunjin had to admit being in such close proximity to you was definitely making him more tense than he was used to being, especially more so now that he knew he couldn’t depend on his abilities to make himself seem more likeable to you. Though Hyunjin would argue that it was refreshing, since sometimes he found that he would say things offhandedly and end up using his abilities on accident, but he couldn’t lie that it made him very, very nervous.

“You came out pretty unharmed,” you murmured with an impressed hint to your tone, “considering you went against Chan.”

Hyunjin shrugged, flushing slightly, masking his shyness with an exaggerated yelp when you’d touched the cotton bud to his wound, flinching back and making you laugh.

“Don’t be dramatic, you were fine when I did it the first time,” you scoffed, seeing him calm down from his act but the smile had lingered on his face nonetheless.

“Yeah, well... I was just lucky he didn’t have a trident too.”

Hyunjin pressed his lips together in a firm line, not having noticed whatever you were doing to his arm because he was too busy looking at your face.

You couldn’t pay too much attention to it, continuing to ramble to take your mind off of how much Hyunjin’s presence made you nervous, especially with the way you could feel him looking at you.

“How did you do that, by the way?” you asked, remembering how you’d seen Chan walk away from Hyunjin halfway when they were fighting, something about the image having popped into your head when you were treating his cut.

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow, “do what?”

You touched the skin above his cut on accident, seeing him flinch back slightly, “sorry,” you gave him a sheepish smile, “I mean, you know, he just suddenly... left halfway, like he just stopped fighting you.”

Hyunjin’s lips parted in realisation, a hum of understanding leaving him, “it was uh... my charmspeak.”

The frown on your face must’ve adequately expressed your confusion, since Hyunjin continued.

“I guess you could say it’s one of the gifts from Aphrodite? That I can sort of like... hypnotize someone into doing what I want them to do.”

Your eyes widened, not having realised Hyunjin was capable of such a thing, starting to understand why Yuta had mentioned fearing their powers more than those of Poseidon’s children.

“That’s... cool,” you hummed, “I was surprised you even used it, you know, considering you were already taking him on pretty well even without the uh... hypno powers,” you waved your hands in front of your eyes for emphasis, making him wrinkle his nose, not seeming to be very convinced.

You scoffed at how modest he was being, shaking your head, “no, seriously. Jaehyun said so too,” you told him, “you’re a good fighter.”

Hyunjin pursed his lips, hoping the moonlight wouldn’t give away the heat creeping up on his cheeks, unsure why he was so flattered by your comment, especially since it wasn’t the first time he was hearing it. Maybe since it was his first time hearing you, of all people, saying it.

“Thanks,” he murmured, a small smile playing at his lips.

“You know, since Aphrodite doesn’t usually play in the war games,” you continued, “I have to admit it was kind of... nice,” you glanced at him briefly for a reaction, the slight quirk in his eyebrow making you rush to continue, “you know, not saying it was nice to fight you but like....nice to fight with you.”

“Thanks,” he murmured finally, making your shoulders relax unconsciously in your relief, “I uh, thought it was nice too.”

You pressed your lips into a firm line, taking a bandage from the first aid box and scooting closer to Hyunjin just slightly, wrapping the bandage around his arm carefully, Hyunjin’s other hand on his lap as he observed your movements carefully.

You thought about how you would’ve never expected yourself to be so comfortable with Hyunjin, figuring one thing that helped you get to this point was since you’d been spending majority of the summer around each other, thinking back to how you felt like your dislike towards him had started to dissipate after that day he’d returned you his sword. A part of you did still feel bad for not thanking him properly for that.

“Thanks, by the way,” you mumbled, “for that day, when you helped me get back my sword.”

You weren’t sure why you were feeling so drawn to him. You were supposed to be strong for crying out loud. Everything about your interactions with him had just felt so new t o you, and they did to him too (though he was better at hiding it than you were). You couldn’t understand why all Hyunjin had to do was just sit there and that was all it took to make you anxious and too nervous to look him in the eyes.

But finally, you’d mustered whatever courage you had within you to do just that, after you were done wrapping his wound up, watching silently as he brought his sleeve back down, refraining from reaching over to grasp your hand before you could withdraw it. Though once you’d met his gaze, you’d felt trapped, almost, something in you not being able to look away.

“You’re welcome,” he told you, his tone gentle and melodic, something so him that you couldn’t find a better response but to nod.

You saw his gaze flicker to your lips just briefly before looking back at your eyes, making you unknowingly do so as well, the silence between the both of you feeling almost suffocating and making you tap-out first.

Turning away quickly, you’d picked the first-aid box off of the floor, pretending to be interested in closing it as Hyunjin regained his composure, standing up and dusting off the dirt on his pants.

Hyunjin debated on helping you up, wondering if you would accept his hand if he were to offer it, his mental back-and-forth making him lose the opportunity quickly when you’d simply stood up on your own, dusting the dirt from your pants. Hyunjin pressing his lips together in a firm line to hide his disappointment at himself.

“I’ll uh... walk you back to your cabin?” he asked, earning a small nod from you.

You could still hear people nearby in the amphitheatre celebrating, thankful that they were either too drunk or too caught up in their conversations to notice you and Hyunjin walking towards the Ares cabins.

Once you’d reached, you turned to Hyunjin, giving him a small smile, and he wondered how you could look so out of place standing in front of the deep red cabin in front of him with its barbed wire perimeter and the intimidating Ares brothers that were eyeing Hyunjin suspiciously from the window, yet somehow managing to look right at home. And he was growing to like that.

“What?” you asked, a slight furrow in your brow when Hyunjin had let his gaze linger a little too long without saying anything.

Hyunjin gave you a soft smile, shaking his head as he tucked his hands into his pockets, “nothing. Bye.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, though you couldn’t help the smile from your face as well, nodding slowly, “bye.”

===

Things between you and Hyunjin after that day were... different to say the least. It’d almost been an unspoken thing for the both of you to meet at the Lake in the evening and talk about whatever it was that was in your minds before he would walk you back to the cabin.

Jaebum loved to situate himself at the front porch to ‘read’ whenever it would be time for you to come back, his knowing smile always serving to unnerve you.

Hyunjin was a good friend, you came to realise. Talking to him was different, different from talking to your Ares brothers who were so insistent on putting up a tough front all the time, (aside from those days Yuta would show up in your room wanting to watch a sad movie), or talking to Jeongin because your conversations would usually revolve around mindless things or become all too philosophical to be discussed while sober.

But Hyunjin, talking to him felt balanced, in a sense. Something about how his personality brought out a side of you that you never really paid much attention to, the part that freely loved things and appreciated the nowness of things without always anticipating what was about to happen next or what you had to prepare for. How just being at the lake with him had made your nights feel longer and allowed you to relish in it, not having to be caught up with the activities of the day when you were there with him.

You figured another reason could be because talking with him didn’t feel like he was just waiting for his turn to speak or give his opinion, it was very clear to you whenever he had those days where he’d simply wanted to listen to what was weighing on your mind and help you through that, without you having to ask him first.

And maybe it was that which warmed your heart, because as the days passed, you felt yourself starting to see Hyunjin differently. How you would find yourself looking out for him without even realising, getting the feeling of wanting to make him happy, or observing little details about him that you wouldn’t have bothered to notice about Yuta or Jeongin.

It was one particular day at the mess hall that made you realise just how in trouble you were.

You were all back on that dreaded conversation topic of the movie night, hearing that someone had tried asking Jaehyun to go with them but getting turned down instead, the information seeming to stir childish scandal amongst your friends as they all tried to tease information out of Jaehyun as to why this was so.

“C’mon, why’d you say no? It’s not as if you were gonna ask someone else, right?” Chan laughed, Hyunjin perking up when Jaehyun had laughed, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah? Says who? What if I wanted to ask Y/N?” Jaehyun gestured to you, bringing his drink to his lips nonchalantly.

You knew he was just using you as an example, but Hyunjin didn’t.

Looking at you with his eyes wide in surprise, his gaze flickered between you and Jaehyun as he tried to make sense of what was happening, something in him almost deflating at the thought that Jaehyun could have been interested in you.

You couldn’t help but glance at Hyunjin in a small panic, hoping he wouldn’t misread what Jaehyun said. Why were you even worried about what he would think?

As calmly as you could, you let out a small scoff, “forget it, I wouldn’t go with you even if you asked,” you stuck your tongue out at Jaehyun, Hyunjin not knowing whether to take it as a joke or not, but he didn’t have much time to think about it before Chan had turned to him.

“Didn’t someone ask you too?” Chan asked, having recalled seeing one of the daughters of Poseidon approaching Hyunjin the day before when he was conducting a pegasi riding lesson at the stables.

You looked at Hyunjin with evident surprise in your features, since he’d definitely excluded that little detail when he told you about his day the previous evening, surprising yourself even further when you’d pictured the scene in your head, wondering how he would’ve reacted.

Hyunjin cast you a brief glance, meeting your eyes and averting his gaze just as quickly to fixate it on Chan, nodding with as casual a shrug as he could muster, “yeah,” he answered simply.

You couldn’t help yourself, “and?” you blurted before you could stop yourself, catching Hyunjin off guard with the expectancy of your tone.

Jeongin eyed you suspiciously, though it went ignored by you as you focused on waiting for Hyunjin’s answer, watching as he let go of the tissue he was holding in his hands, bringing his drink up to his lips, almost raising his hands in surrender (but thankfully not doing so).

“Said no,” he shrugged, taking a long sip of his drink, eyeing you for a reaction over the rim of his cup.

You nodded slowly, a short hum of understanding leaving you as you turned back to Jeongin, making eye contact with the boy who was looking at you with a look that said he definitely was going to ask you about this later.

And he did, soon enough.

Lying on your bed on his back, Jeongin was busy pulling his knee to his chest in his attempt to do some ‘yoga in bed’ that he’d come across online.

“What’s up with you and Hyunjin?”

“What do you mean, ‘whats up with me and Hyunjin’?” you huffed, hoping he wouldn’t read into your flustered expression as you turned away from him, concentrating on folding your freshly done laundry.

Jeongin rolled his eyes, letting go of his leg before pulling the other one towards his chest with a small grunt, “I mean, what’s going on with you and Hyunjin?” he said again, making sure to enunciate his words pointedly.

You shrugged, “nothing, we’re friends,” you told him plainly (though not plain enough to please Jeongin), “that’s what’s going on.”

Straightening his leg, Jeongin lowered it down, stretching his hands over his head with a yawn, “then what was with your face when Chan said someone asked him out?”

You let out a high-pitched hum, making a wrong fold on your shirt, “well aren’t you an observant little thing,” you cooed, re-doing the fold.

“Don’t avoid the question,” Jeongin laughed, straightening up in his seat and looking at you with wide eyes, “why are you being so weird about it?”

You sighed, bunching up your shirt in your hands as you looked at him, “I don’t know what it is, okay? It’s just that... these days whenever i’m with him I keep thinking about how nice he looks or how good his stupid flower perfume smells or how he just, I don’t know, chooses his words so well,” you frowned.

“It’s weird, like, even I think it’s weird, because I don’t usually pay attention to things like that, but suddenly when it comes to him—” you inhaled deeply, stopping yourself short as you looked at Jeongin in desperation. “If it’s not some kind of magic, I don’t know what to make of it.”

Jeongin snorted, giving you a shrug.

“I’d love to just say you’re losing it, but I heard Aphrodite kids have a reputation for that, you know?”

You frowned, standing up to make your way towards where he was, “for what?” You slumped down on your bed next to him with your arms stretched out above you, rolling over until your shoulder was against his hip, a tired sigh leaving you.

“You know, the whole like... love voodoo shit,” Jeongin prompted, your confused expression making him groan, “it’s like what you guys can do with anger and fear but they do it with pleasant feelings instead.”

Your frown deepened, not having realised Hyunjin was capable of doing something like that.

“I thought it was only the charmspeak?” you frowned, seeing Jeongin roll his eyes.

“You say it as if Ares only gave you guys one ability.”

You snorted, “wouldn’t have put it past him,” you shifted your body to support your head with your hand, “has it happened before?”

Jeongin hummed, nodding matter-of-factly, “yeah, duh. ”

“Then, do you think that’s what’s happening to me?” you wondered out loud, bringing your legs up to hug your knees to your chest with a sigh, trying to wrack your brain for reasons why Hyunjin would manipulate your feelings like that. Did he not trust you?

Giving you a shrug, Jeongin laid back on his back, “dunno, maybe you can test it out or something. See if what you’re feeling is heightened when you’re talking to him, you know?”

You hummed, nodding slowly. You still didn’t know what would compel Hyunjin to do something like that, wondering if you weren’t on as good terms as you thought you were, deciding that for now, observing him was your best bet to figuring out just exactly what he wanted from you.

Hyunjin was stressing himself out too, but not quite over the same reasons that you were.

While you were trying to come to terms with the fact that you were finding him a little too pleasant to be normal, Hyunjin had been trying to come to terms with the fact that Jaehyun probably found you as pleasant as he did (or something along those lines).

He’d already passed the point of figuring out whether or not he liked you. He knew that for sure.

Whether it was because he was more in tune with his feelings of love or just him tending to trust his feelings more, he didn’t really pinpoint a specific cause. All he knew was that he had found himself completely enamoured with you, drawn to you in ways that made him question if his mother had a hand in this.

What he was more concerned with now, was coming to terms with the fact that you may not have felt the same way.

It was in the small things, like how he would let himself read into the looks or the inside jokes that Jaehyun shared, or how he couldn’t help but feel as though you would feel more comfortable with Jaehyun judging from your conversations and how naturally they flowed. Not that his conversations with you didn’t feel natural as well, Hyunjin just couldn’t help but worry.

And this was new to him, these feelings of heightened worry or anxiousness that somehow you managed to bring out in him, though Hyunjin had to say that it wasn’t that bad, because with the anxiousness, he realised just how much he liked you. But nonetheless, as previously said, he really couldn’t help but worry.

Even now (or especially now), as Hyunjin was seated behind you in the amphitheater during the movie night, watching some sort of pirated romantic movie that, if anything, only made him more anxious about you, he couldn’t help the glances he would steal at Jaehyun every now and then. As if by some unlucky stroke of fate, he would always seem to turn to look at you at a part where Jaehyun would be whispering something that would elicit a laugh from you, something about the feeling of helplessness mixed with just a tinge of jealousy making Hyunjin’s stomach churn.

But what Hyunjin didn’t know was that you weren’t actually as amused as he thought you were.

What he didn’t see, past the giggling and inside jokes, was that your leg was bouncing incessantly in your seat, how your eyes were dead fixed on the movie playing but not being able to focus on anything other than the fact that even the way the male lead dressed had reminded you of Hyunjin.

You were trying your best, to ignore the sounds of agreement or giggles that would leave Hyunjin whenever Yuta would hum about the beauty of the leads, or the way Hyunjin would lean forward every so often to ask for another handful of popcorn. And he wouldn’t just ask, he would make sure his lips were barely centimeters away from your ear and that his voice was as enchanting as it was in the forest during your first encounter with him.

And then the scent of his perfume would flood your senses and your mind would be practically yelling at you that all you had to do was just turn ever so slightly and your face would be right in front of his.

But the keyword was trying.

You couldn’t ignore it, with every instance, you were growing increasingly convinced that this was just Hyunjin’s way of messing with you and manipulating your feelings for reasons unbeknownst to you.

And as time passed, you were getting tired of feeling so strongly towards him when you frankly couldn’t do anything about it (it wasn’t as if you could just turn around and kiss him now, that would be too much implication and too little reasonable explanation on your part).

But your tipping point was a particularly tense scene in the movie when the lead couple had shared a moment, looking into each other's eyes and the male lead saying something stupid that you couldn’t bring yourself to remember, before sharing a deep kiss.

And of all moments, Hyunjin had chosen that moment to lean forward for what you felt was the thousandth time, “Y/N,” he whispered, “can I have the—”

You shoved the popcorn box behind you into his hands, a deep sigh leaving you, “here. Take it.”

Jeongin shared a look with Hyunjin, the younger boy’s hand coming up to stifle his smile when you stood up abruptly, deciding that what would do you good right now is some fresh air, or just... air where you could focus on anything other than Hyunjin.

Your sudden decision had caught Hyunjin off guard, frowning at you in confusion when you declared that you ‘needed some air’, stalking off in what Hyunjin assumed was the direction of the lake.

Turning to Jeongin, Hyunjin was about to speak when Jeongin had beat him to it, a definitive ‘yes’ leaving him.

Yuta let out a chuckle when Hyunjin had only looked more confused.

“‘Yes’ what?”

Jaehyun turned to cast a knowing smile towards Hyunjin, making him even more confused to begin to process it.

“I’m guessing you wanted to ask where Y/N was going, but then I think you already know the answer to that,” Yuta pressed his lips together in a poor attempt to contain his smile.

“So, the next question would be whether to go after her, and my answer is yes,” Jeongin finished simply, Hyunjin’s lips parting and closing.

Scoffing, Hyunjin shook his head, “who said I was gonna ask about her?” he folded his arms, even though he had already begun to stand up, making Jeongin giggle.

Jeongin brought his hand up to shove Hyunjin out of the way, “dude, just go. You’re gonna make me miss the rest of this movie.”

===

You were sitting down closer to the water, thankful for the sound of the rushing water that managed to soothe you, running your fingers through your hair in a half-hearted attempt to tame it from being blown about by the breeze, giving up at one point and simply huffing, staring at the rocks as though it would give you an answer to why you were so riled up.

But what irked you even more was that even here, you seemed to be so wrapped up in your thoughts of Hyunjin that you swore you could smell that same flowery scent even here. Cursing him mentally that whatever love voodoo he was doing was strong enough to make you think of him even when you were trying everything in your power not to.

Well, that was until you heard someone clear their throat gently behind you, a soft, “hey,” leaving them.

So the flowery scent was real.

You huffed in annoyance, “whatever you’re doing, you have to stop it now.”

Hyunjin frowned, making his way closer to you, “I’m not doing anything,” he told you, standing in front of you now, crouching into a squat so he could be at eye-level with you.

“Don’t play dumb, just undo it,” you tried again, not understanding how even when you wanted to be annoyed at him now, you couldn’t help but find the confusion on his face more than just a little endearing, your gaze softening for just a brief moment when you caught a good look at his face.

Hyunjin shook his head, his hands coming up beside his head in surrender, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” he insisted, making you groan.

“Jeongin told me, okay? That you and the other Aphrodite children can manipulate feelings of love, I need you to stop making me feel like this,” you told him plainly, your eyes searching his face in desperation hoping that he would at least take pity on you and stop playing dumb.

Hyunjin’s eyes widened, his forehead creasing slightly when he frowned, “that’s... not possible.”

You scoffed, seeing him rest one of his knees on the ground to balance himself, “what do you mean it’s ‘not possible’? Of course it’s possible, if you can do it, you can undo it, right?”

Hyunjin wanted to laugh, a small exasperated scoff leaving him, unsure what to make of this entire situation, “I mean,” he struggled to contain his amusement, having passed the point of exasperation, “it’s not possible because it doesn’t work on you.”

Your frown had deepened, your lower lip unknowingly forming a pout as your eyes searched his expression for any sign that he may have been joking.

“Doesn’t work?” you panicked, unsure what to make of his words, “That doesn’t make sense, what do you mean it doesn’t work? How can it not work?” your lips parted in confusion, Hyunjin getting tired of squatting and sitting before you instead.

Hyunjin couldn’t help but smile, shaking his head, “I’m just as confused as you, okay? I really don’t know, maybe Ares gave you a thick skull too,” he raised his hands in defence, a small bout of laughter leaving him, seemingly satisfied with his own joke.

Scoffing, you folded your arms, a small silence ensuing, somehow not being able to wrap your head around your newfound information, “explain.”

Hyunjin tilted his head at you, his elbow on his knee to support his head as he looked at you with an expression you couldn’t place, “do you remember? That first day we played capture-the-flag and I told you to pick up the flag?”

You nodded, remembering that moment very well, how firm his gaze was, how sweet his tone sounded, how his proximity made you feel as though you couldn’t move, “I remember.”

“That was me trying to use my charmspeak on you, and failing.”

You remembered the confusion you felt when he’d asked you to pick up the flag, your annoyance overpowering you and possibly being the reason why his abilities hadn’t worked.

“Ever since then, I realised it was never going to work on you,” he murmured, “and believe me, I would’ve known if it did. Which is why i’m telling you now,” he told you, his pace slowing down as his gaze stayed intent, enunciating his words clearly for you to hear.

Hyunjin leaned closer to you, taking his lower lip between his teeth with a small pause before letting it go, his lips curving into a small smile, “that whatever you want me to undo, I can’t undo it.”

Only then did you realise the gravity of the situation, that whatever you were feeling towards Hyunjin was all coming from you, and that as much as you should’ve known, you still couldn’t help the wave of relief that washed over you at the knowledge that it was real.

Hyunjin had taken in a deep breath before you, patiently giving you the time you needed to process whatever he’d told you, amused at the fact that you looked as though you wanted to hide.

“I don’t really... know how to explain this to you,” you admitted, seeing Hyunjin bring his hand up to cover his mouth, stifling his smile while trying to maintain a serious expression.

Hyunjin shook his head, “you can explain it however you want, you can not explain it too, if you want.”

You frowned, figuring he’d probably felt embarrassed for you, standing up and pressing your lips tightly into a firm line, a silent way of telling him that you’d wanted to leave, Hyunjin giving you an understanding nod.

Deciding that you just needed to regain your composure, you nodded, giving him an apologetic smile before you left.

===

You’d obviously consulted Jeongin in the time between that and your next meeting, the said boy claiming that he would never have seen it coming if you’d asked him a month before. Though he was no less supportive, the other daughters of Ares seemed to agree with him as well, all of them singing praises to you about Hyunjin and why you shouldn’t ��miss this opportunity’.

Which was what ended you up at the Lake again that night, hugging your jacket closer to yourself to protect yourself against the cold breeze.

Staring at Hyunjin’s back, you took a deep breath as you made your way towards where he was seated at your usual spot, dressed in a simple shirt and sweatpants, not looking bothered at all by the cold.

“Hey,” he murmured, hearing the soft crunching of the pebbles under your shoes growing louder, a small smile on his face as you took a seat next to him, something about him not feeling as nervous as he’d expected himself to be.

Mustering a small hum in reply, you gulped, taking in a deep breath as you thought of where to start.

“Had a good day today?” you started, missing the way Hyunjin had quirked an eyebrow at you in his amusement.

He nodded, “average. Didn’t see you at dinner,” he mentioned, turning his head to look at you, silently questioning your sudden politeness.

“Yeah... wasn’t hungry. Was with Jaehyun and Jeongin at the arena.”

At the mention of Jaehyun, Hyunjin pursed his lips, his smile slowly disappearing as he nodded slowly in understanding.

“Does he like you?” he blurted abruptly, his words making your eyes widen. Once again, Hyunjin found himself wishing that Aphrodite would give him more confidence for once, especially in a time like this.

You shook your head, his words having shocked you into laughter, “oh, no, he doesn’t. He’s dating someone back home.”

“Really? But I heard from one of my sisters that—”

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you, “your sisters? I heard it from Jaehyun himself. Trust me. He’s not interested.”

Hyunjin had visibly relaxed, “oh...” his tongue peeked out to wet his lips, “good.”

Turning to him, you’d raised an eyebrow at him, “good?”

He nodded, a small huff of laughter escaping him, “yeah, good. Honestly, I don’t think I'd stand a chance if he was involved.”

“What makes you say that?” you couldn’t help but laugh, in disbelief that he sounded almost threatened by Jaehyun.

Shrugging, Hyunjin shifted in his seat, bringing his hands behind him to support his weight, “you know, everybody loves him.”

You had to refrain from scoffing, “I think everyone loves you too.”

Hyunjin didn’t bother stopping himself, saying the first thing that had come to mind.

“Including you?” Maybe Aphrodite heard him.

Your head whipped around to look at him, lips parting in shock as you met his gaze again, something about it exuding a kind of certainty that you weren’t used to being on the receiving end of, something about the fact that it was coming from Hyunjin making a warmth spread through your chest, once again reminding you that as delicate as the thought of Aphrodite was, Hyunjin never failed to show you that where there was beauty, there also came a lot of strength.

You gave him a firm nod.

“Including me.”

A smile played at Hyunjin’s lips, “I’m glad you decided to meet me here.”

You huffed, “I had to,” you told him, “I had so many things I wanted to say to you, but now that i’m here it’s like... nothings coming to my head.”

Hyunjin’s smile grew, and it was such a Hyunjin thing to see. How he didn’t bother to contain his happiness, especially now, “what about you say the first thing that comes to your mind right now?”

You didn’t hesitate.

“I would say I’m thankful that whatever i’m feeling isn’t just because of magic,” you averted your gaze briefly, daring yourself to hold his gaze no matter how foreign your words felt as they left your lips, “because it’s the first time it’s ever felt so... you know, real. ”

Hyunjin nodded, “I know i’m supposed to be like... familiar with love and everything but,” Hyunjin paused, finding his gaze lingering on your lips a little too long.

“Me too,” he finished.

You knew you weren’t hallucinating when you’d seen Hyunjin leaning closer to you, his hand behind him supporting his weight as he drew closer to you, your eyes slowly closing as Hyunjin’s lips were barely next to yours, being able to feel his breath just ghosting over your lips, something about it almost sending shivers down your spine.

Your heart wasn’t beating fast, your chest didn’t feel tight, this wasn’t like anything you were used to reading about it novels or witnessing in movies, or even hearing from your friends, no. Something about this moment had felt so comforting, that with each second it had only managed to draw you in even more.

“May I?” his voice came out as barely above a whisper, your breath hitching at the way you’d felt as though you were hanging from a string, the anxiety from not having done this before but the urge to just go ahead with it because it had felt so natural.

And soon enough, you’d felt his lips press gently against yours, sighing a breath you hadn’t realised you were holding as you let yourself follow his lead, feeling his hand move to touch the side of your head gently, the warmth from his hand flooding into your cheeks as you felt his hair brushing against your forehead with a featherlike pressure. It was as if every tiny detail was making itself known to you with the sole purpose of making you feel as if you were in some sort of perfect situation.

Almost deepening the kiss, Hyunjin stopped himself, pulling away almost reluctantly as his thumb grazed over your lower lip gently, his eyes looking dazed and unlike anything you’d seen before.

Feeling breathless and hazy, Hyunjin had let out a small huff, a smile making itself known on his face as he caressed your cheek softly, pressing another soft kiss to your lips, standing up as if nothing had happened, though you didn’t miss the way how this time he’d held a hand out for you to take.

Accepting his hand, he helped you up, but he hadn’t let go. Instead, he’d stepped just slightly closer to you, interlocking his fingers with yours as he turned to give you a smile, his eyes forming cute crescents and exuding pure relaxed happiness, something you were glad to have grown so accustomed to seeing and experiencing with him.

“What?” you asked, not being able to help yourself from feeling shy under his gaze.

“Walk you back to your cabin?”

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