Work Text:
“Uh – Hi!”
Sicheng’s soft spoken words pierced through the cloak that shrouded Jaehyun’s thoughts like one of Artemis’ arrows. Jaehyun had absolutely no idea as to how long he’d been gazing at Sicheng, but it must have been too long if the younger was confident enough to say something.
A blush creeping across Jaehyun’s cheeks, he brushed the back of his head with shaking hands. “Shit- sorry about that,” he stammered, before taking a final glance at the gorgeous boy and practically running away. What had turned into a stroll had quickly turned into an awkward encounter. With the patch of grass outside of the Aphrodite cabin fading, Jaehyun regained his breath and allowed his thoughts to clear once more.
Dong Sicheng. He was the only boy on Jaehyun’s mind, day in and day out.
He was absolutely beautiful – a rare specimen. Sure, everyone who hailed from the Aphrodite cabin was beautiful, but Sicheng was different. He was the shining pearl of Jaehyun’s eye. Sicheng had a head of silky smooth blonde hair, which always rested lazily above his eyes. Despite having the ability to control whatever he wore magically, Sicheng always dressed rather modestly, preferring skinny black jeans and sweatshirts – unlike his extravagent counterparts. His face was wonderfully sleek, soft and smooth, with plump red lips that always had just the softest tint of goss over them. Whenever Jaehyun saw him, saw his rose gold eyes concentrating on something from far away, it was as though his body went into lock down. All his senses would scream for Sicheng, urging him to take his lithe body into his arms and cuddle him until the world stopped turning.
Except that would never happen. Jaehyun let out a sigh as the riddles of unrequited love cursedly wrapped themselves around his being. Whilst Sicheng was iridescent, like a long strand of baby blue silk being waved in the wind, Jaehyun was… everything but. His father was Hephaestus, and it was obvious. Jaehyun was blessed with broad shoulders and bulked up arms, but that was about all he was ‘blessed’ with. He had a ruddy complexion with light freckles dotting his face from ear to ear, and an uneven nose from one too many accidental falls on the metal staircases of the Hephaestus cabin. Jaehyun’s hair was scruffy, a dark brown – the same shade of hair that decorated his forearms and chest. Large hands ran themselves across his chiselled face in frustration at the realisation of his unconditional adoration of Dong Sicheng.
Aphrodite boys weren’t meant for Hephaestus boys.
Despite repeating this mantra to himself for what seemed like months, years at this point, Jaehyun couldn’t quite get to grips with it. No matter what happened, he’d always love that boy called Sicheng.
~♥ . ♥ . ♥~
“I can’t do it. I just… I can’t.”
Ten and Taeyong looked up from their candlelit arangement of flowers on the Aphrodite dormitory floor. In perfect synchronisation, they opened their mouths in response to Sicheng’s blasé statement.
“Excuse me?” They gasped, turning once to each other, and then again to Sicheng.
The trio of boys were currently sat in their shared bedroom in the Aphrodite cabin. All 3 were sat on a plush, light pink rug, sat in a circle around both candles and flowers. A sweet aroma filled the cabin, yet as Sicheng hadn’t had time to adjust to life in the Aphrodite cabin, it still smelt rather sickly. He didn’t know whether it was the smell or his company which seemed to be twisting his stomach into knots.
Sicheng had only been claimed as a child of Aphrodite a week ago. Residence in the Hermes cabin was much different to life in the Aphrodite cabin, yet that wasn’t entirely the problem. The blonde boy didn’t feel as though he fit in. Looks-wise, he certainly did. Everyone around him shared the same set of rose gold iris’, same plump lips which rested in a pout, as though they were constantly about to say something. But… attitude wise? Sicheng was the odd one out.
What he’d learnt about his brothers and sisters were that they possessed inherently meaner spirits than he did.
“Sicheng, sweetie, you have to do it,” Ten purred, running a hand behind his hear. “If you don’t, then you can’t stay with us. And you don’t want that, do you?”
Ten was Sicheng’s oldest, and most gorgeous, older brother. There was never a time where Ten didn’t have his arm linked through that of one of the hunks in Camp Half Blood. Whilst Sicheng was more of an innocent beauty, Ten was more of a cut-your-throat-slit-your-wrists stunning. His eyes sparkled in the soft glow of the bedroom’s light with a sinister undertone. Unlike everyone else in camp, Sicheng hated his older brother with a passion. He saw past his beauty, his painted outer shell, and saw the manipulative snake his older brother Ten truly was.
“I can’t, Ten,” he whispered, eyes downcast to his lap. Sicheng’s fingers played with one another, the perfectly manicured nails picking at his flawless skin. “It’s too hard.”
“Would you rather accept the alternative?” Taeyong smirked from Ten’s side.
Taeyong was another one of Sicheng’s many older brothers. He had a face like cotton candy, yet his personality wasn’t quite as sweet. Taeyong’s beauty was that of pure sex – everything from his lithe figure, the translucent shirts he loved to wear, or the pure silver piercings that lavishly decorated his ear. One glance from Taeyong, followed by as sultry bite of light pink lip, was enough to send any mortal’s desires into a whirlwind.
“I don’t have a choice,” Sicheng sighed.
“Well, you do,” Ten wondered, sitting back next to Taeyong. The pair were giggling at Sicheng’s apparent misery. “You either continue with the Rite of Passage, or you sleep outside. To me, that’s an easy decision to make,” the oldest giggled.
“Totally,” Taeyong added, punctuating Ten’s sentence.
Sicheng sighed.
He had to do it.
He had no choice.
~♥ . ♥ . ♥~
Jaehyun lay wide awake in his bed. Due to the intense heat from the forges on the level above, most Hephaestus kids slept in little to no clothing. And Jaehyun was no exception – sporting nothing but a pair of dark blue underwear. Rolling around beneath the sheets, he struggled to get any rest. Ever since a week ago, sleep had been sparse for the Hephaestus boy.
Sitting up, Jaehyun reached for the glass of water he’d left by the side of his bed, on the window sil. Once he’d drained the glass of its content, he cluttered it back onto the wooden panel. Jaehyun was on the top of a bunk bed, yet as no one was living on the bottom, he found it alright to shift as much as he pleased. He wasn’t disturbing anyone but himself.
He couldn’t take much more of this sleepless night, though.
Tired and restless, Jaehyun threw the covers off of his bunk in a decision that a nice walk would serve him some good. He clamboured off, so his bare feet were in contact with the warm metal flooring beneath him. Kneeling down, Jaehyun blindly felt for his pair of gym shorts on the bottom bunk, which he’d been using as a sort of makeshift wardrobe. Once his fingers had clutched onto the black fabric, he slipped them on, and still without a shirt or shoes, he moved to the steel staircase that connected the basement of the Hephaestus cabin to the upper floor – the forges. It was too early in the morning for anyone to be occupying the upper level, so it felt alright to walk around shirtless. Once he’d donned a pair of boots, Jaehyun weaved his way through the numerous anvils and crates of scrap metal, opening the front door to the cabin.
Except, when he opened the door, he found Sicheng standng on the other side, eyes downcast and hands connected together.
“Fuck!” Jaehyun shouted, surprised to see someone so beautiful waiting outside of his cabin – the Hephaestus cabin, for that matter. Surely he was lost? Sicheng was new on camp, whilst Jaehyun had lived here for more than a few years. That wasn’t the point, he quickly reminded himself. Sicheng was standing right in front of him! And it was so early in the morning.
“S-Sorry to shock you,” Sicheng whispered. The blonde boy’s eyes flitted over Jaehyun’s chest and torso, before quickly moving back to the ground.
Jaehyun kept blinking, sure that his mind was playing a nasty trick on him. Was he hallucinating? Possibly. The smell of toxic fumes all day was enough to play pranks on anyone’s mind. But Jaehyun hadn’t been in the forges much today, anyway, and he was certain that Sicheng had just spoken to him. What in Zeus’ name was happening?
“It’s okay,” Jaehyun wondered, eyes cautiously lingering over the lithe figure of the child of Aphrodite. Did he always look this perfect, or was the 2am atmosphere somehow configuring his perception?
A silence had since cast itself over the 2 boys. Their eyes were wandering – Jaehyun’s in confusion, whilst Sicheng’s were in curiosity. Neither of them were willing to take the first step and speak, until Jaehyun noticed Sicheng’s light shiver from the biting cold of the night.
“Are you alright? Are you lost or… something?” Jaehyun gently asked, careful not to frighten Sicheng away. The blonde boy had a presence like that of a beautiful tortoishell cat – quick to scare, and will only accept things on their terms. Jaehyun felt a newfound urge to take him into his arms and kiss him all over.
Sicheng shook his head. “No I… I wanted to talk to you, in fact.”
“Me?” Jaehyun asked, pointing his finger to his own chest.
“Yes.”
“Me… Jaehyun? The Hephaestus camper?” He asked once more, voice dripping with disbelief.
Sicheng let out a slight giggle. “Yes, Jaehyun. I need to speak to you. I was going to wait until morning but… I can’t sleep very well. What I need to tell you – it’s urgent.”
“You’re not sleeping well? Neither am I,” Jaehyun wondered. “Uh – yeah, sorry, yeah I’ll talk to you,” he quickly said. What was happening? It all seemed too good to be true. The unattainable love of Jaehyun’s life knocks on his cabin door at 2 in the morning, and requests to talk to him? There had to be a catch.
But Jaehyun was always a sucker for optimism.
~♥ . ♥ . ♥~
And so Sicheng found himself sat next to Jaehyun on the bench outside of the Hephaestus cabin at 2 in the morning. Eventhough Sicheng was wearing a plush fur coat and a pair of track bottoms, he was still shivering due to the biting winds that were rocking Camp Half Blood.
“So, you wanted to talk to me?” Jaehyun whispered, barely audible over the wind.
Gently, Sicheng nodded.
“I need to… I need to confess something to you.”
“C-Confess?” Jaehyun asked.
“Yes. But first… I need to apologize.”
“Huh? What for?” the older asked once more, turning his body around on the bench so his full attention was directed towards the blonde boy with the rose gold iris’. “We haven’t ever spoken before,” Jaehyun trailed off.
“I know, and… shit, I’m so sorry,” Sicheng whispered. “I wasn’t sure if it worked, at first. I was clinging to my last hope that my power somehow had failed to operate, but yesterday… when I caught you looking at me, I knew it did. And I have nothing but sincere apologies.”
Jaehyun was still very confused. Was he missing something?
“I… I don’t get it? What worked? I’m very confused, right now.”
Sicheng bit his lip. With a slight gulp, he began speaking. “Are you aware of Aphrodite’s Rite of Passage?”
“No.”
“Well… basically,” Sicheng began. He let out a deep sigh, and broke eye contact with the older. He knew this was going to hurt. “Aphrodite’s Rite of Passage is something that everyone in our cabin has to go through. Like an initiation process. I’m sure Hephaestus cabin has one too,” Sicheng wondered. “But… what our Rite of Passage entails of is sinister. It’s evil. And… I’m apologizing because… I’ve got you involved in it.”
Slowly and slowly, it was beginning to make sense to the older – that is, if Sicheng could judge by the frown that was increasing on his face.
“What do you guys do in this… in this initiation?” Jaehyun whispered, voice still timid.
“We… we uh…” Sicheng let out a deep sigh. “We make someone fall in love with us. And so… I made you fall in love with me.”
Jaehyun nodded, realisation setting in.
“But – then we have to break their hearts.”
There it was. The bombshell. To Jaehyun, it took a minute, but it made sense. Sicheng had… had cruelly entangled Jaehyun in their cabin’s little Rite of Passage. A week of what was essentially torture that stemmed from unrequited love. And what had Jaehyun done to deserve it? Nothing. Once he’d figured it all out, Jaehyun let out a deep and frustrated sigh, throwing his head back to rest it on the wood of the cabin. Sicheng felt the tears threatening to overspill in his eyes. The child of Aphrodite had never wanted to do this – that’s why he felt so different. Whilst his brothers and sisters broke hearts for breakfast, Sicheng didn’t want to. Such an act was heinous to him.
“So do it,” Jaehyun spat. He’d folded his arms, closing his eyes. “Do it. Break my heart. I’m not good enough for you anyway.”
“Jaehyun-“
“No! Just do it!” Jaehyun growled, hands shaking as they gripped his bare knees. Deep down, he’d known his sudden infatuation for Sicheng was suspicious. Sure, people having crushes on Aphrodite kids wasn’t unheard of, but for Jaehyun, it was something so much more than just a crush. He didn’t just want to have sex with Sicheng. To his knowledge, half of Camp Half Blood wanted to do that. Jaehyun wanted more – he wanted to care for Sicheng, kiss his injuries, craft his jewellery from his very own forge.
“Break this… this curse, Sicheng. Free me from a love that I can never obtain. It’ll… it’ll be better for me.”
There was a pregnant pause. Jaehyun was waiting for it with closed eyes, bracing for impact. What would it feel like, the physical act of falling out of love with someone? Was it cold? Did it feel like you were falling? Or did you simply feel… empty, afterwards? Jaehyun had been waiting too long. It felt like years had passed, yet no significant feeling had given Jaehyun a reason to open his eyes.
Eventually, Jaehyun opened his eyes and turned to look at the Aphrodite boy, only to feel the same pang of adoration within his core. Sicheng was looking sorrowfully at Jaehyun, the moonlight reflecting themselves off of the younger’s glossy iris’.
“I don’t want to break it, Jaehyun.”
“What?”
“You don’t deserve that. I know I made you fall in love with me, but honestly… I don’t want to break your heart. Because doing so would break mine as well. It seems like it’s too soon, but… Jaehyun,”
“Yes, Sicheng?”
“I feel like I’ve fallen in love with you too.”
…
“What?”
Sicheng shook his head, getting up from his seat on the bench. He was already walking away from the Hephaestus cabin.
Nothing made any sense anymore! Not to either of them. What happened was Sicheng had, using his newfound Aphrodite powers, caused Jaehyun, an unusually attractive and hunky Hephaestus boy, to fall in love with him. Yet what Sicheng hadn’t expected, and neither had the rest of the Aphrodite cabin who had been involved with the Rite of Passage, was that Sicheng fell in love with Jaehyun as well.
Jaehyun clamped his hands around Sicheng’s wrists, stopping him in his tracks. Sicheng found himself flying backwards, landing against Jaehyun’s bare chest. A blush was instantly painting itself across his face.
“You’re in love with me?” Jaehyun whispered, looking down at Sicheng’s flushed face. “Are you- are you actually?”
“You’re not mad?” Sicheng refutted back.
“Oh, I’m mad, about the whole initiation thing,” he laughed slightly. “But… but you’re actually in love with me?” Jaehyun asked, desperation evident in his voice.
“Yes, Jaehyun,” Sicheng chuckled, brushing one finger down the side of the Hephaestus boy’s cheek.
“Then… then what’s stopping us? I’m in love with you… you’re in love with me… what’s next?”
Sicheng let out a soft giggle. Any negative feeling that was plaguing his system had been washed out with the warm gaze from Jaehyun’s eyes. It was as though Jaehyun was a refreshing wave, cleaning Sicheng’s mind and body, making him feel instantly better.
“We kiss,” Sicheng whispered.
And so, as Jaehyun slotted their lips together, a love story that had been created but a few days ago came to fruition. When they kissed, both boys knew deep down that, even if they had gotten off to somewhat of a rocky start, this was the real thing.
Turns out that Hephaestus boys and Aphrodite boys can be together after all!♥