Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“We’re having a meeting.”

“Hyuck, there’s only two of us in this club. You don’t have to call a meeting, just tell me-”

Donghyuck shakes his head, pushing his finger up against Doyoung’s lips to shush him. “It’s important.”

Doyoung rolls his eyes, “fine, what is it?"

“I’d like to call the 79th meeting of the ‘we don’t have our own cabins so we stay in the ones belonging to vaguely related gods’ club to order,” Donghyuck slams his hand against the small table, ignoring the way Doyoung sighs. “Say it,” Donghyuck hisses.

“No, it’s dumb.”

“Fucking say it.”

“Brother Lee, what made you call this meeting?”

“Thank you Brother Kim,” Donghyuck nods, “today we will be talking about Mark fuckin’ Lee.”

“Mark? What did he do this time?”

“He heard me singing and said ‘wow Apollo really gave you some pipes!’ Like shut the fuck up, Helios was the one who blessed me with this voice!”

Doyoung nods along to what Hyuck is saying, “people always think that you’re the son of Apollo, not Helios.”

“And people always think that you’re a son of Aphrodite, not Eros! It’s so dumb.”

“I always think of it like I’m just staying with relatives, they’re technically all of my aunts and uncles.”

“Apollo and my dad aren’t even related! This is bullshit!” Donghyuck exclaims, “I’m the fucking sun! Not a child of Apollo!” Doyoung pats Donghyuck’s back comfortingly. “Anyways,” Donghyuck pushes off Doyoung’s hand, “how are things with you going?”

“Alright, I guess.”

“What about you know who?”

“Jaehyun? Still mildly pretentious as ever, I guess.”

“Man, fuck him and his whole fuckboy squad.” Donghyuck rolls his eyes, “don’t worry hyung, you’re my and my friends’ favorite.”

“Thanks Hyuckie,” Doyoung hums.

Doyoung leaves Donghyuck’s empty cabin and is walking slowly through the line of cabins when he’s suddenly tackled, and he nearly buckles under the weight of someone jumping on his back. “What the-”

“Doie, run!” Na Jaemin yells into his ear, “just trust me!” Doyoung rolls his eyes, but reaches up to grip the younger’s legs as he sprints back to their cabin.

Doyoung dumps Jaemin onto his bed and glares at him, panting heavily, “what was that about?”

Jaemin smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of  his head from where it hit his headboard, “uh, I might have, pranked Injun?”

Doyoung let’s his head hit his hands in exasperation, “why?”

“It’s just so sad to watch him try to summon dead people all the time! Plus he always gets really upset afterwards because Hades gave him power over precious minerals and not ghosts.”

“Yes, and?”

“So Jeno and I might have, uh, pretended to be ghosts?”

“Oh my god.”

“And then he found out, so uh, we might want to stop wearing all of our jewelry because Injun may have threatened to strangle me?”

“You’re so stupid.”

Jaemin beams, “but you still love me, right?”

“Maybe.” Doyoung rolls his eyes, ignoring Jaemin's whines. He needs a break.

Later that day he’s walking with Taeyong, their cabin counselor, when he’s stopped by Chiron. “Kim Doyoung, come here,” Doyoung glances at Taeyong who nods before he walks over to the centaur.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“This is Liu Yangyang, he’s new around here. Could you show him around?” Chiron asks and Doyoung turns to look at a young boy who smiles shyly at him.

“Sure, I’d be happy to,” Doyoung says, and Chiron nods before turning away. “Hi, my name is Doyoung, I’m a child of Eros but I live in Aphrodite’s cabin. Do you know who your godly parent is?”

Yangyang nods, “my dad said her name was Iris.”

“Oh that’s Cabin 14!” Doyoung says and points across the clearing to a small grey cabin with a stream surrounding it, the mist rising up and creating dancing light patterns around it. “Iris is the goddess of rainbows and the messenger of the gods. Her children can usually manipulate light and make cool illusions.”

“Woah,” Yangyang says, “I can make rainbows?”

“Yeah,” Doyoung says and starts to walk down to the clearing, Yangyang running to keep up. “I’ll introduce you to your half-siblings later. For now, let’s walk around the camp.”

“Okay,” Yangyang says, his head turning to take in the sight of a few forest nymphs gathering berries. They wave and giggle at him and he blushes before looking back at Doyoung.

“This is the training grounds, where we learn to defend ourselves from monsters.” Doyoung says, walking onto the dirt courtyard. He has to raise his voice over the sound of swords clashing. “There’s a sword fighting class going on now!”

Yangyang’s eyes widen while he takes in the sparring campers. “Fighting?”

Doyoung nods, “all of our weapons are made out of a special metal in order to kill the monsters, and when you first start training they’ll give you one that fits your fighting style.”

“What’s yours?”

“Oh, I use a-”

“He uses a bow and arrow,” Doyoung frowns at the interruption and turns around to glare at the newcomer. Jung Jaehyun is strolling closer to them, casually resting the flat end of his sword across his back. “And he’s damn good at it too.”

Doyoung rolls his eyes, “Yangyang, this is Jung Jaehyun, son of Zeus. Jaehyun, this is Liu Yangyang, son of Iris.”

“Nice to meet you, kid.” Jaehyun says, and sticks out his hand.

Doyoung can already tell that Yangyang is amazed and he scoffs when Yangyang grabs Jaehyun’s hand, stars in his eyes. “This is all so cool!”

Jaehyun laughs, “it’s always nice to meet my fans. That means you too Doie.”

“Don’t call me that,” Doyoung frowns.

“My fan? You might not be now, but you will be at some point,” Jaehyun winks cheesily and Doyoung forces himself not to gag right there.

“C’mon Yangyang, I still have to show you everywhere else,” Doyoung says and walks away, Yangyang running to catch up to him.

“See you during the bonfire! Don’t forget there’s always a spot next to me if you want it!” Jaehyun calls after him. Doyoung doesn’t turn around but still flips him off.

“Dickhead,” Doyoung mumbles.

Doyoung walks down to the bonfire, trailing behind Jaemin and the rest of his cabin mates to talk to Taeyong, “he just makes me so mad.”

Taeyong nods, “I get that.” The child of Aphrodite sighs, “I feel like you guys have always had some sort of tension.”

“It’s annoying.”

“He’s attracted to you,” Taeyong says and ignores the way Doyoung almost trips over his feet. “But he needs to realize that relationships are built on genuine connections, not weird sexual tension.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Doyoung sputters. Taeyong just smirks. “I’m sure he just sees me as someone to mess with.”

“I guess that’s why you’re Eros’ son and not Aphrodite’s. We can just sort of see these kind of things, everyone in our cabin knows.”

“There’s nothing to know!”

“Uh huh,” he nods, “sure. Don’t worry Doyoung, if Jaehyun pushes it more we’ll take care of it,” Taeyong smiles evilly and Doyoung shivers.

“I’m going to go walk with Jaemin,” Doyoung mutters.

“Did you hear?” Mark asks, as Doyoung sits down next to him and Taeil, pointedly not looking in Jaehyun’s direction even though he knows that he has stubbornly kept a seat open next to him.

“Hear what?”

“They’re choosing new team captains for capture the flag tomorrow!” Mark grins, “are you gonna go for it?”

“Maybe,” Doyoung shrugs, “it’d be fun.”

“I think you should,” Taeil says, “and pick me too. We’ll be archery gods together.”

Doyoung snorts, “you can barely hit the target.”

“So? I’m just the god of bad archery.”

“I don’t think that’s a thing,” Mark says sheepishly, “if being bad at something made you a god, I’d be the god of fixing things. Everything I touch seems to break.”

“Aw Mark,” Taeil frowns.

“Dad must be so disappointed in me,” Mark sighs before looking toward the sky, “sorry Hephaestus.”

“Campers!” Doyoung turns up to look at Chiron, “we have an announcement to make.”

“We?” Dionysus sneered, “this is all you, buddy.”

“Dionysus, you really have to do your part around here-” Chiron mutters.

“Yeah right, I’m just here to chill until Zeus gets that stick out of his ass and lets me back into Olympus.” Thunder rumbles overhead and the wine god rolls his eyes. “Oh fuck off.” Toward the back of the crowd, Doyoung hears someone yell “yeah go Dad!” It’s most likely Johnny Seo, so Doyoung rolls his eyes.

Dionysus turns toward the voice and tilts his wine glass filled with Kool-Aid in that direction. “Anyways, as you were saying Chiron?”

“Tomorrow we’re going to be choosing new team captains for capture the flag. Before we decide however, I’d like our old captains to speak a few words. Yuta, since your team won you can go first.”

The athletic man stands up, unbothered by the attention. Unsurprisingly, his friends whoop loudly and Doyoung cringes when he hears Jaehyun’s voice among them. “Hey everyone, how’s it going? First of all I’d like to thank my mom, Nike, for making sure that we won. Second of all, I’d like to thank my amazing team for leading us to victory, especially a certain Lee Taeyong for using his little charmspeak power to make our enemies drop their weapons in front of us.” Yuta grins in Taeyong’s direction and Taeyong does his best to appear composed instead of the panicked man Doyoung knows he is. “I’d also like to thank Sicheng and the rest of the Hypnos cabin for giving us that weird sleep powder,” Yuta winks toward the chinese boy who just yawns in response. “I can’t forget my second-in-command, Jung Jaehyun, for all of his hard work.” Jaehyun smiles, showing off his dimples and Doyoung wants to vomit. “And of course, I have to thank my fair opponent, a certain Mr. Johnny Seo.”

Johnny stands up, grinning at the son of Nike. He’s wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt like the rest of them, but he had cut off the sleeves and a majority of the sides of the shirt like the true frat-boy he was. Doyoung has to snap his fingers in front of Taeil’s eyes to stop him from staring. “Thanks man,” Johnny says, “now Team Blue, I know we lost to Team Red, but I don’t want you to think of it like that. Instead, let’s just call it a fun game among friends, especially since Yuta is one of mine.” He laughs, “I should know better by now than to go against a son of Nike, but I guess that’s what I get. Anyways, to celebrate our friendship and the end of a good game, party at my cabin tonight! Everyone’s invited!” The crowd cheers in response. “Completely non-alcoholic of course,” Johnny adds when he notices Chiron glancing at him. He waits until Chiron is looking away to wink conspiratorially.

“Good on you, son,” Dionysus mutters.

The party is crowded, and Doyoung isn’t sure how Taeyong and Taeil managed to drag him there, but it might be because of their horrible crushes on the former team captains. Doyoung sighs, holding a glass of some weird slightly toxic concoction as he passes by Yukhei, son of Hebe, doing a kegstand while being held up by Xiaojun, a prodigal prankster thanks to Hermes. He ignores Chenle’s instances that he sit down for a game of cards, knowing there’s no way he’ll win against the son of the goddess of luck. He’s finally settled down in a quiet corner on the porch when the door swings open and a heavy body sits down next to him. “Not really your crowd, huh?”

“Jaehyun,” Doyoung says, “what do you want?”

“I can’t just sit next to my favorite son of Aphrodite?” Jaehyun asks and raises the end of a vape pen to his lips, blowing out sweet scented smoke that has Doyoung dizzy.

“Eros,” Doyoung mutters.

“Huh?”

“Nevermind,” Doyoung says, “what do you actually want?”

Jaehyun takes a sip from his cup, the disgusting mix of alcohol and godly nectar sliding easily down his throat, “are you going for team captain?”

“In capture the flag? I don’t know.”

“I am,” Jaehyun says. Doyoung’s not surprised, Jaehyun had always been competitive. It was one of the reasons why Doyoung and he didn’t usually see eye-to-eye. “You should too.”

Doyoung’s eyebrows rise, surprised. “Oh really?”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun says.

His eyes narrow, “why?”

“Let’s make a deal.”

Doyoung’s interest is officially piqued, “what kind of deal?”

“Whoever’s team wins gets to ask one thing of the loser and they have to do it.”

“What would you ask for?”

“Not much,” Jaehyun says, and turns to look at Doyoung, dimples clear and present when a sneaky smile stretches across his face, “just a date.”

Doyoung’s eyes widen and he can feel his cheeks flushing red, god dammit. “What?”

“A date,” Jaehyun repeats. “If I win, you’ll go on a date with me.”

“Why?”

Jaehyun shrugs, “dunno,” he says helpfully, “I just want one.” More sweet smelling vapor comes from his lips when Jaehyun takes another hit and Doyoung’s eyes trace the mesmerizing smoke patterns.

“Just because you want one doesn’t mean you can have one,” Doyoung scowls.

“Yeah, I know.” Jaehyun says, “so I’ll just win it instead.”

Doyoung scoffs, “you won’t win this time. I accept your deal, but only so I can beat you.”

“And what will you ask for?”

“For you to leave me alone.” Doyoung says and Jaehyun smiles like he expected it back at him before they both shake hands, fingers gripping a little too tight.

“Deal.” Jaehyun stands up, downing the rest of his drink, “I’ll see you later. Oh, and Doyoung?”

“Yeah?”

“Wear something casual for our date.” Jaehyun laughs and ducks back into the cabin when Doyoung hurls his drink at him, the alcohol splashing against the door behind him.

Chapter Text

“He’s infuriating!” Doyoung complains, staring up at the ceiling of his cabin. It’s painted pale-pink, and Doyoung can’t help but roll his eyes at the constant Valentine’s Day like decor of the cabin.

“We know,” Jaemin hums, flipping through a magazine. “What about this one?” He asks, sliding over a photo from a fashion editorial to Taeyong. Taeyong glances down and nods.

“I like the idea of the bet. Maybe your tension will just build up until it explodes and we’ll finally get somewhere in your relationship,” Taeyong says.

“What relationship?!” Doyoung exclaims, flipping over to glare down at Taeyong from his top bunk.

Both Jaemin and Taeyong look up at him and give him a pointed look. “Ignore him, he’s hopeless.” Taeyong mutters to Jaemin.

Doyoung rolls his eyes and hops off the bunk, his feet landing on the floor heavily. “Whatever, I’m going to go to the training grounds.”

“We’ll come too!” Jaemin says, jumping off of his bed, “Jeno and Renjun told me to meet them near the lake.”

“The whole point of me going to the training grounds was to leave you two,” Doyoung says while picking up a large quiver and bow next to the front door.

“Don’t act so rude around your uncles,” Jaemin says while Taeyong rustles through his closet for his sword.

“I’m literally years older than you,” Doyoung says.

Taeyong emerges, holding an elegant saber. “Doesn’t mean you’re still not our nephew, kid.” He says and stands on his tiptoes to ruffle Doyoung’s hair while he walks out the door. Doyoung sighs and follows after them.

Before they reach the grounds, Jaemin has already dashed off to meet with his friends, waving back at Taeyong and Doyoung. “You excited for tonight?” Taeyong asks, setting down his saber to stretch quickly.

“Yeah,” Doyoung says, leaning over his legs. “It should be fun.”

“You’ll win, I know you will.”

“I hope so,” Doyoung grumbles from where he’s bent over, stretching his back.

Taeyong sighs and stands up again, and Doyoung snickers when he glances around and sees almost half of the campers staring at the son of Aphrodite with loving eyes. “You wanna get started on archery today?”

Doyoung nods, already threading his bow and standing far from the empty target. Taeyong grabs one of the practice bows on the side of the clearing, lining up next to him. Thwack! Bullseye.

“I’ll be on your team, right?”

Thwack . “Of course, Tae.”

“Do you want me to use charmspeak?” Thwack . Taeyong groans when his arrow misses its mark, unlike Doyoung’s.

“Use whatever you need to win.”

“Already thinking of cheating, Doie?” A teasing voice interrupts and Doyoung scowls when the arrow misses its mark by one ring.

He turns to Jaehyun and glares at him. He’s surrounded by his weird posse of friends, as usual, and Taeyong smiles shyly at Yuta. “What do you want?” Doyoung grounds out, stringing another arrow. Thwack! Bullseye.

Jaehyun whistles, “you’re pretty good.”

“Thanks,” Doyoung says and shoots another 10.

“We’re gonna go try out the climbing wall,” Johnny says, tapping his friends shoulder. Jaehyun nods in response and Johnny walks away, followed by Yukhei and Yuta.

“Taeyong, you wanna come?” Yuta turns and asks.

Taeyong drops the bow, “uh, I’m gonna-”

“Yeah, whatever.” Doyoung rolls his eyes, “have fun.”

“Thanks!” Taeyong smiles and follows after the group. Doyoung frowns, already feeling his friend’s absence. He squints his eyes, getting another bullseye.

“I’ve never seen a child of Aphrodite that’s so good at fighting,” Jaehyun says casually, “usually they just want to manipulate their enemies, like Taeyong, or sit on the sidelines and look pretty.”

Doyoung pauses, the arrow tilting toward the ground as he pulls his arms down. “I’m sorry, what?”

Jaehyun shrugs, “it’s not like you guys are really designed to fight-”

Doyoung cuts of his words. “That is the most insensitive thing you’ve ever said,” he glares at Jaehyun, “just because our parents aren’t one of the big three like you doesn’t mean you get to decide what I’m good at.”

Jaehyun raises his hands, “I’m just saying-”

“First of all, never underestimate and disrespect a child of Aphrodite. They’re more dangerous than you think. Second of all, I don’t know why it doesn’t get through your thick skull, but my godly parent is not Aphrodite, it’s Eros . Her son.”

“Like Cupid?” Jaehyun asks dumbly.

“Yes, you absolute dumbass.”

“Woah, calm down Doie, it was an honest mistake,” Jaehyun says, sounding genuinely apologetic.

“No, it was you being a fucking dickhead to my cabin mates and then assuming you know shit about me when you don’t,” Doyoung says, and quickly shoots his last arrow. He doesn’t even look before he’s storming out of the training grounds. He already knows what he’ll see if he turns around, a slightly shocked child of Zeus next to a bullseye.

Doyoung and Jaehyun both stand up when Chiron asks who wants to be team captain. Doyoung glares across the fire at Jaehyun, who’s standing confidently among the sea of campers.

“Kim Doyoung and Jung Jaehyun will be your new team captains,” Chiron declares, “any preferences on color?”

“Blue,” Doyoung states.

“Then I’ll have red.”

“You two may now pick your teams.”

In the end, no one is surprised. The teams are divided evenly, but Jaehyun made sure to select all of his friends and Doyoung did the same.

“The first match will be in a week, prepare well campers. Best of three wins.” Chiron nods and gallops away.

Jaehyun turns and nods at Doyoung, “good luck,” he says.

Doyoung scoffs and doesn’t respond.

The planning starts almost immediately. After the fire, Doyoung finds himself in Athena’s cabin alongside Taeil, Taeyong, and Chittaphon from Hermes. Huang Guanheng, one of Athena’s prodigies, examines a glowing blue map that shines a holographic model of the woods just outside the main campgrounds around the room. Mark is fiddling with the device, and it briefly flashes orange before shrinking down to settle over a wide table in the center of the cabin. Mark lets out a sigh of relief.

“This is the divide between our two territories,” Doyoung says, pointing at a river that flows through the forest. I say we keep Jeno there as a guard, he’s from Poseidon, he can control the water.”

Taeyong shakes his head, “if we put Jeno there, we’ll have to sacrifice not one, but three of our most powerful fighters since Renjun and Jaemin will probably want to guard with him.”

“We could make a special sort of armour that can store water for Jeno,” Mark says excitedly, “so then if he ever needs it he can-”

“Or we can just give him a water bottle,” Chittaphon says.

“I mean, I guess we could do that too,” Mark says sheepishly.

“I say we divide our forces into offense and defense,” Taeil says, “and we can form little units of offense that go into the Red territory to try to grab their flag.”

“We’ll use Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin as one of the units,” Doyoung says, “Mark, Taeil, do you guys want to be on defense?”

“Sure,” Taeil nods, “we should place the flag here,” he points at a small hill, deep into the forest.

“Okay,” Doyoung agrees. “Wait, what about this?”

They spend half of the night perfecting their plan of attack, and when Doyoung finally goes to sleep, he can barely get comfortable, knowing that Jaehyun and his friends were also doing the same.

He wakes up before everyone else. Doyoung is restless, and he rolls out of bed, blinking tiredly as red morning light filters in through the window. He yawns and decides to at least sit on the porch, blanket dragging against the floor as he pads out the door. The sun is still rising, and the camp is quiet for once. Doyoung sits down on the steps, his head leaning against the wooden railing as he stares out into the forest, his eyes heavy. He can’t help it when they slip closed, his head slumping forward.

“Doyoung?” Doyoung jerks forward, almost falling off the steps but a strong hand reaches out to steady him. Doyoung yawns, looking up blearily before jerking back, letting the hand on his shoulder fall heavily away. Jaehyun stares down at him, wearing a muscle t-shirt and running shorts.

“What are you doing here?”

“Morning run,” Jaehyun says, his hair still impossibly perfect.

Doyoung scowls. Of course. “Go away,” he mumbles, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

Jaehyun shrugs, “nah, I’m good,” he raises his arms, stretching them over his head and Doyoung looks down at the sight of his biceps flexing. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

Doyoung glares at Jaehyun, trying to figure out if he was genuine or not, “about what?”

“I’m, uh, I’m sorry.” He stares up at Jaehyun in shock.

“You’re sorry?”

“Yeah, I was acting like a dickhead the other day. I don’t know what came over me,” Jaehyun sighs, “but I regret saying it. I didn’t mean it.”

“But you said it,” Doyoung scowls.

“Yeah. I’m dumb.”

“Yeah.”

“Uh, but that’s really all I wanted to say. I’m sorry Doyoung, it was really insensitive and rude of me,” Jaehyun says quietly and turns around to continue his jog when Doyoung calls his name, not really sure of what came over him.

“Jaehyun!”

Jaehyun looks back at Doyoung, something akin to hope in his eyes. “Yeah?”

“I forgive you,” Doyoung smiles weakly. Jaehyun is silent before he gives Doyoung a wide grin, dimples carving into his face. “I still don’t like you though.”

“Of course,” Jaehyun says happily, “for now.” Doyoung rolls his eyes, while Jaehyun jogs away. He watches the demigod leave before he stands up, heading back into the quiet cabin.

“Had fun?” Doyoung freezes, turning toward the nearby bunk to see Taeyong staring at him, knowing look in his eyes.

He laughs awkwardly, “it was nothing.”

“Uh huh,” Taeyong smiles, looking down.

Doyoung pants, sweat dripping of his brow as he slashes his sword. A sharp clang rings through the air as Jaemin grins and pushes his blade away. “Good,” Doyoung encourages, “you’re a natural.”

“Thanks,” Jaemin says and lunges forward, Doyoung sidestepping out of his way. “I had a good teacher.”

Doyoung smiles back while twisting his sword under Jaemin’s arm, successfully upending his grip, “but you could be better.” Jaemin’s sword clatters to the dirt floor and Jaemin groans in frustration.

“Good job,” Doyoung turns to hear someone clapping and his face immediately twists.

“What, Jaehyun?”

“You’re always asking me why I’m talking to you. Can’t I just come up to you for the sake of talking?”

“You always have an ulterior motive.”

Jaehyun shrugs, his sword resting casually on his side, “maybe I wanted to duel.” Doyoung’s eyes narrow but Jaemin yells excitedly, scurrowing over to throwing range where Taeyong is chatting to Chittaphon while throwing knives into a wooden board.

“Taeyong they’re going to duel!” Jaemin says, dragging his half-brother over to watch. Taeyong’s eyebrows rise.

“Are they?” he asks, staring at Doyoung.

“No-”

“I guess we are,” Jaehyun grins. At this point, there’s a small crowd gathering around them, and in the corner of his eye Doyoung can see Chenle already leading a small betting pool.

“Five drachma on Jaehyun,” a young camper named Jisung said, placing his money down. “Ares is never wrong when it comes to war.”

“Oh yeah?” Jaemin says, glaring at him, “five drachma on Doyoung! Jeno, give Chenle the money.”

Jeno sighs and gives the demigod five gold coins.

“Are you going to disappoint everyone?” Jaehyun mocks.

Doyoung wipes sweat off of his brow, slowly shifting back into the proper position, brandishing his sword, “fucking asshole.”

Jaehyun smirks, “that’s the spirit.”

Bronze crashes against bronze and Doyoung barely registers the cheers in the background, “fuck,” he grunts, their blades meeting and Doyoung presses forward, his feet digging holes into the dirt. Jaehyun grins before crouching slightly and then pushing forward suddenly, knocking Doyoung off of his balance. He stumbles back, barely jumping out of the way of Jaehyun’s swipe.

“Damn, you’re good,” Jaehyun says, leaning back on his haunches while Doyoung steadies himself. Doyoung nods before lunging at Jaehyun, almost catching him off guard but Jaehyun’s sword flies up just in time. Jaehyun’s foot flies out and knocks into Doyoung’s legs, and Doyoung tumbles to the ground, his grip on his sword failing when he rolls to avoid crashing into the hard dirt. He slams into the wall that holds spare quivers and bows, a few of the bows clattering down around him. Doyoung pants heavily while Jaehyun stands above him, sword held casually in his hands, “sorry Doyoung,” he says, face twisting into a small pout as he lifts the sword. Before he can point it at Doyoung’s throat, ending the duel, Doyoung’s arm reaches up and he grabs onto the edge of Jaehyun’s t-shirt, yanking down and bringing the demigod with him. His other hand grips one of the fallen arrows and as Jaehyun falls on top of him, Doyoung brandishes the arrow, pointing it directly at his throat.

Jaehyun’s sword is still between them, the hilt of it lying flat against Doyoung’s side and the blade in perfect position across his neck as the two stare into each other’s wide eyes. Doyoung’s brain blocks out the sounds of the other campers’ yells while he breathes heavily, eyes tracing the line of sweat that goes down Jaehyun’s face and their chests touching as they breathe. They’re both red, from exertion or their position, Doyoung doesn’t know.

“-it’s a tie!” A voice interrupts them and Jaehyun is dragged off of Doyoung. Doyoung blinks and grabs the hand that appears in his vision, lifting himself up. Jaemin grins, “that was so cool!” Doyoung turns to look at Jaehyun, his head ducking down when he sees him staring back. He frees himself from Jaemin’s grasp, turning and walking quickly out of the clearing as if nothing had happened.

“What’s wrong?” Donghyuck is down at the pier, swinging his feet into the water next to Jeno’s towel while said boy manipulates towers of water in the middle of the lake. Doyoung sits down heavily besides him, his shirt sticking to his back because of sweat.

“I just got done training,” he says, dipping his feet into the cool water and laying his back flat against the wooden dock.

“And?” Donghyuck pushes.

“I don’t know, it’s weird.” Doyoung twists his neck to look at the son of Helios, “have you ever had a weird moment with someone? Like you just sort of realize that someone is,” his stomach twists, “attractive? I don’t know, I don’t think I’m attracted to him but he’s definitely conventionally attractive-”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says, looking out at the lake and laughing when he sees Jeno arguing with one of the water nymphs. “Is this about Jaehyun?”

Doyoung groans, throwing an arm over his eyes, “of course not!”

“You’re allowed to, you know.”

“Allowed to what?”

“Think he’s attractive and still dislike him.”

“Oh. Good. Not that I do-”

“Of course, not that you do,” Donghyuck agrees and Doyoung lifts his arm, squinting up at the sun. “Are you ready for the big match tomorrow?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Let’s fucking go,” Chittaphon laughs with glee, strapping on a layer of armor, “I can’t wait to fight.” Doyoung shivers at the sadistic look in his eyes while Chittaphon high-fives one of his half-brothers, Xiaojun. All around him, campers are gearing up, getting ready for a game of Capture the Flag. Doyoung straps his bow and quiver onto his back, tucking a long hunting knife into a scabbard that he fastens around his thigh.

“You ready?” Taeyong asks, attaching thick leather pads around his forearms.

“Hell yeah,” Doyoung grins, standing up and brushing off his light armor. He can hear the sound of anticipation in the air along with Mark’s screaming when Donghyuck playfully lights the edge of his blue bandana on fire. “Let’s do this.” Two sharp horns blow through the air. “Five minutes!” Doyoung yells, “remember your places!” the campers scramble around him to finish. “And one more thing,” they turn to look at their captain, “go Team Blue!”

His smile is wide when he hears their cheers in response.

Chapter Text

The forest is tense, silence enveloping them as Doyoung sits high in a tree, the blue flag tied around a lower branch and swaying mockingly in the wind. When he looks over the treetops, he can see a glimpse of Taeyong, also hidden and ready to defend their flag. Suddenly, three blasts of a horn ring through the trees, and Doyoung strings an arrow, eyes scanning over the ground below him.

In the distance he can hear the sound of swords clashing and campers yelling, and it’s not long before he catches a glimpse of red armor edging towards the flag. Doyoung’s eyes narrow as Qian Kun and Dong Sicheng creep towards his tree, and he quickly releases the arrow, but before the tip can pierce them it’s blocked by a sudden gold forcefield that flashes when hit, Doyoung’s arrow bouncing off to the forest floor. The duo looks up in surprise, spotting not only the flag but also Doyoung, and Kun gasps before raising his hands and calling on Hecate, magic sparking from his fingertips. Doyoung jumps off of the branch to the floor below right as the bough he was on disintegrates, and quickly pulls the blue bandana tied around his neck over his nose, seconds before Sicheng blows a burst of powder in his face. He’s barely affected by Hypnos’ sleeping powder, only blinking before he charges at them, hunting knife drawn.

Taeyong joins him, sneaking up on Kun and quickly taking him down, the son of Hecate yelling curses in Chinese, magic flying around wildly. Sicheng manages to avoid Doyoung’s swipes, but once Kun is down for the count, Taeyong helps him take down the tall son of Hypnos.

Doyoung stands above the two, hands tied behind their back and whistles sharply. Within seconds, Hendery and Xiaojun show up, grabbing the two campers and dragging them away to a small area designated as “jail” where they have to stay unless someone on their team frees them. Taeyong and Doyoung grin at each other before Doyoung climbs up his tree again, returning to his post.

They manage to foil a few more attempts, like when Chenle attempts to bribe them while Jisung tries and fails to get the flag, and Yukhei, who almost takes Taeyong down before Mark and Taeil storm through the forest and knock him out with one of Mark’s bronze hammers. Doyoung is honestly feeling pretty proud of himself and his team, when another group tries to attack them.

Yuta, Jaehyun and Johnny walk into the forest, weapons drawn and Doyoung and Taeyong make nervous eye contact. Taeyong creeps out of his hiding spot, careful not to make a sound before he rests his hands on Johnny and Yuta’s shoulders. They jump, crying out and whirl around, swords brandished at Taeyong. Jaehyun turns too, eyeing the son of Aphrodite suspiciously. Taeyong raises his arms, feigning surrender before he opens his mouth. “Stop,” he says, and even Doyoung shudders at the power behind his words, “set down your weapons.”

The trio stare Taeyong down before Johnny and Yuta drop to the ground, their swords falling at their sides. Jaehyun stays standing, but his knuckles turn white and his teeth grit. “Set down your weapons,” Taeyong repeats, ignoring the way Johnny and Yuta’s eyes have glazed over. “Stop!” The charmspeak rings through the air, power backing it up and Doyoung is tempted to drop his bow but his connection to Aphrodite allows him to stay standing.

“No,” Jaehyun’s voice rings out and Taeyong’s eyes widen.

“Drop your sword!” Taeyong yells, and Jaehyun again shakes his head.

“No, you,” the son of Zeus says and his arm swings up, the hilt of his sword striking Taeyong’s head and Taeyong crumples to the ground, unconscious.

“Fuck,” Doyoung says, and immediately shoots an arrow at Jaehyun, but he can somehow sense it coming and dodges it easily. Jaehyun looks up, smiling when he sees Doyoung in the branches along with a bright blue flag. Doyoung keeps another arrow trained on him.

“Doie!” Jaehyun says cheerfully and waves up at him.

Doyoung scowls and let’s another arrow go, Jaehyun quickly sidestepping it.

“Come down and fight me!” Jaehyun says, ducking each time Doyoung fires another arrow. Doyoung reaches back in his quiver, fingers grasping on air and he suddenly realizes that the attacks from before seriously depleted his supply of ammunition. He groans and pulls his long hunting knife from its scabbard, gracefully leaping down from the tree to face Jaehyun. He quickly slashes forward, Jaehyun jumping back at the same time. “Fuck!”

Jaehyun laughs, their blades clashing violently. Doyoung’s shoulders tremble as Jaehyun pushes forward, the space between them gradually decreasing. “Just give up,” Jaehyun says, Doyoung stumbling back as Jaehyun continues to corner him towards the tree trunk, “I’m stronger.”

“Dickhead,” Doyoung says, and tries to push away, their blades still locked. The air around them crackles with electricity and Doyoung can feel his arm hair standing on end as thunderclouds suddenly appear in the sky.

Jaehyun blinks, his eyes turning grey and they both can feel the power in the air. He grins, and suddenly a strike of lighting breaks through the sky, pointed straight at them. The electricity courses through the son of Zeus, and Doyoung immediately drops his knife when sparks fly from the tip, nearly electrocuting himself. Jaehyun immediately shoves him forward, Doyoung’s back slamming against the back of the tree, and he winces when the rough bark hits his skin. “Don’t call me a dickhead, that’s rude,” Jaehyun purrs, his arms trapping Doyoung, and smirks when Doyoung tries to melt into the tree. His eyes are wild, storm grey with flecks that flash in and out, like lightning. The air is suddenly cold around Doyoung, except where Jaehyun’s body is almost touching, heat and power radiating off of him. His hair is messy, giving him the look of an actual greek god. “I’ll take that,” he says quietly, his breath fanning over Doyoung’s face, and Doyoung hears it like it’s miles away, watching dumbly as Jaehyun lifts his arm to grab the bright blue flag. They’re still close, impossibly close, too close. Then, as quickly as he appears, Jaehyun leaves, dashing out of the clearing with his flag. Doyoung blinks, paralyzed before his mind suddenly rings out in alarm, and he runs after Jaehyun, jumping over Taeyong’s unconscious body and Johnny and Yuta’s still dazed ones. He crashes through the forest, keeping an eye on Jaehyun’s bright orange t-shirt.

“Jung Jaehyun!” He yells and he just laughs in response. They break out of the trees and Doyoung frantically scans the river, the border between their territories. Jaehyun wades into the water, looking back at Doyoung who is still 10 feet behind him, and winks, crossing over to the other side. Immediately, a horn sounds and red fireworks burst into the air, and Doyoung curses, kicking the ground. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“That’s one for me,” Jaehyun grins mockingly, “only one more and you’ll have to go on that date with me.”

“I would never,” Doyoung hisses.

Jaehyun shrugs, “then win.”

There’s a party. Doyoung refuses to go, until Jaemin hits him with puppy dog eyes because “Jeno and Renjun want to go! It doesn’t even matter that it’s for the other team, it’ll be fun!” and Doyoung suddenly finds himself in the middle of the biggest cabin in the camp, Zeus’ giant marble statue towering over the many drunk demigods disapprovingly. Someone, most likely Johnny judging from the handwriting, has tied a red flag with the words “suck it blue!” written on it over Zeus’ eyes, in a desperate attempt block the statues judging gaze. Doyoung rolls his eyes when he sees it, and finds it highly ironic considering the amount of partying Zeus himself partakes in on Olympus. Nearly the entire camp is here, even a majority of the campers on Doyoung’s team, and he sighs when he sees a blushing Taeil on Johnny’s lap, the air hazy around them as Johnny hits a blunt. Doyoung isn’t even sure how the hell they managed to get all of this stuff into the camp, but he thinks it might have something to do with Johnny being Dionysus’ favorite son. He grimaces, still humiliated because of the defeat, and dutifully accepts a cup of booze from Mark, who’s already red in the face and laughing loudly whenever Yukhei breathes.

“Careful,” Donghyuck, who’s making sure Mark doesn’t do something too embarrassing, says, “that shit’s strong.”

“It’s what I need,” Doyoung says and downs the entire cup, wincing slightly as the alcohol and nectar mix run down his throat, the vodka making the olympian elixir burn even more. He turns and sees Taeyong, who has a bandage on his forehead, laughing shyly while Yuta delivers a play-by-play of the final moments of the game, despite him being under the son of Aphrodite’s power for a majority of it. “God, why are all of my friends attracted to those fuckboys?”

“I ‘dunno,” Donghyuck says, sipping on his own drink and ignoring Mark, who is now staggering across the dancefloor, “they’re pretty hot, to be honest.”

“Ew,” Doyoung says, face twisting.

He rolls his eyes, “don’t act like we didn’t have a conversation earlier about how a certain son of Zeus was attractive.”

Doyoung grabs another drink and takes it like a shot instead of answering, “bye Donghyuck, see you later.” Doyoung mumbles and starts to walk away while the son of Helios just laughs, the air around him glowing as Donghyuck unknowingly alights his powers. Unfortunately, the light attracts a lot of attention and Doyoung starts walking away even faster when he spots Jaehyun looking over, a smile forming when he sees Doyoung.

“Doie!” Jaehyun calls, waving as he weaves through the crowd.

“Jesus Christ,” Doyoung says, and turns around, quickly slipping away and out of the door. “I really can’t deal with this,” he sighs.

“Doyoung, wait!” Doyoung turns around, the cold night air making him shiver as he spots Jaehyun going out of the door after him.

“Go away,” he says, walking even faster.

“No,” Jaehyun says, his strides widening until he’s walking next to Doyoung, “you haven’t won the bet yet, so I don’t have to leave you alone.”

They end up on the beach. The waves crash into the sand as Doyoung sits there, staring out into the water. Jaehyun is next to him, and Doyoung reflexively curls his legs closer to him to widen the small gap between them. “Are you upset?” Jaehyun asks, the breeze from the lake rustling his hair.

“Not really? Kind of? I don’t know,” Doyoung mutters, “I’m upset at myself for losing, but you won fair and square.”

Jaehyun hums in response, and Doyoung listens to the faint crackle of Jaehyun’s vape pen as he inhales. He glances over at the demigod, Jaehyun’s head tipping back as a thin stream of vapor exits his lips, curling upwards in a mesmerizing smoke pattern, fading into the star-filled sky.

“Isn’t that bad for you?” Doyoung asks, eyebrow raised.

Jaehyun shrugs, “I guess.”

“You should stop,” Doyoung says, and extends his legs, feet digging into the sand. “Popcorn lung and all that.”

Jaehyun snorts, “we’re demigods. There’s terrifying creatures out there that most people couldn’t even imagine that are trying to kill us just for existing. At this point, I highly doubt a little nicotine is dangerous.”

Doyoung stares at Jaehyun, the way his side-profile is illuminated by the moonlight. “I guess you’re right.”

“It’s why my friends and I always party and drink, and why Johnny smokes so much weed.” Jaehyun says, vapor ghosting out of his mouth. Doyoung frowns, but his mind still thinks Jaehyun looks ethereal, which is annoying. “We have to live life to the fullest now, because we’ll probably die young.”

“Yeah,” Doyoung says slowly. The short lifespan of demigods is something everyone is aware of, but refuses to talk about. Even Doyoung is in danger, despite being the son of a minor god.

Jaehyun hums. Then he looks at his juul, and gestures it toward Doyoung. “Wanna try?”

Doyoung eyes the small black stick suspiciously, before looking at Jaehyun. “What do I do?”

“Just suck on the tip,” Jaehyun says, and Doyoung’s cheeks flush red. But Jaehyun’s innocent smile remains on his face, so Doyoung leans forward, wrapping his lips around the end. His eyes widen in surprise, the vape pen almost slipping from Jaehyun’s fingers as Doyoung inhales sharply. Immediately, his mouth is hit with a sharp minty flavor and the back of his throat burns.

Doyoung pulls back, coughing wildly as vapor bursts out of his mouth. “Fuck, that’s horrible.”

“The first time is usually like that. Just relax your throat and try again,” Jaehyun says, with an underlying smirk, and Doyoung eyes him suspiciously.

“Fine.” Doyoung leans forward again, and this time Jaehyun eyes the way his lips purse around the tip, a look that Doyoung decides to ignore in his eyes. He inhales again, this time the burn is subtle and Doyoung manages to not dissolve into a coughing fit.

“Don’t swallow, just let it out,” Jaehyun says. Doyoung exhales, and watches the way the small cloud of steam fades into the night. They sit there for a while, just watching the waves and passing Jaehyun’s juul back and forth. “Doyoung?” Jaehyun asks, interrupting the silence.

Doyoung turns to see Jaehyun staring at him. “Yeah?”

Jaehyun eyes Doyoung’s face, “why do you hate me?”

Doyoung pauses, and watches Jaehyun lean forward slightly, “what do you mean?”

“Like why? I know I can be an asshole,” Jaehyun frowns, and Doyoung unconsciously lets his hand rest on Jaehyun’s shoulder. Jaehyun stops, looking into Doyoung’s eyes. They don’t say anything for a second before Jaehyun lifts his hand, cupping Doyoung’s cheek. Their faces tilt toward each other, and Doyoung can feel his face heat up as Jaehyun’s breath fans across his cheek, smelling faintly of mint and nicotine. “ Do you hate me?” he whispers.

Doyoung’s eyes widen, “I-I don’t know,” he says quickly and pushes Jaehyun away, standing up and brushing the sand off of his shorts. “I’ll talk to you later,” he mutters and walks away, leaving Jaehyun on the beach, staring after him.

Thwack! The target in front of Doyoung is bristling with arrows. Thwack!

“Uh Doyoung,” Taeyong says. Thwack!

“What?” Doyoung grounds out. Thwack!

“I think you should take a break-”

“No.” Doyoung says and strings another arrow.

“Please? You’ve been doing this for hours now-” Thwack! “-and I’m starting to get worried.”

Doyoung sighs, “I lost Taeyong.”

“I know,” Taeyong says, “but there’s always next time.”

“If Jaehyun wins it then I have to—I have to-”

“Go on a date with him? Honestly Doyoung,” Taeyong says, ignoring his glare, “that isn’t even that bad.”

Doyoung breathes in harshly, “it is!” Would it be? “He’s so fucking infuriating all the time, I just hate him.” Does he?

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” No.

“What did he even do to you?” Taeyong asks.

“I-I,” he almost kissed him on the beach, “it doesn’t matter, he’s just a dickhead.”

Taeyong rolls his eyes, “okay, then what are you going to do about it?”

“I’ll fucking win!” Doyoung says.

Taeyong sighs, “the next game is a few days away. We better get started then.”

Doyoung nods. Thwack! Bullseye.

Doyoung is walking back from another planning session at Athena’s cabin when he hears it. There’s a small altar off the beaten path with little shrines to each of the gods. Most demigods don’t use it, favoring the bigger altars near the dining hall, but every once in a while someone uses them for a bit of privacy. “Dad? It’s me, Jaehyun,” Doyoung’s ears prick up at the familiar voice, and he looks around the woods for a second before creeping down the overgrown path. He steps into the clearing, seeing Jaehyun’s back, kneeling in front of a small statue of Zeus. “It’s probably been a while since you’ve heard from me,” Jaehyun says. “I just wanted to tell you what’s been going on lately. I’m the team captain for this month’s round of capture the flag.” Jaehyun laughs, “figured you might be proud of that. Things have been going well, and we won our first match. I have a bet with the captain of the other team, Kim Doyoung. Remember him?”

Doyoung frowns, wondering why Jaehyun would ever talk about him to his father.

“Other than that, things have been normal. I’m still kind of lonely though, I sort of wish I had siblings but I know that’s a lot to ask of you.”

Doyoung nods silently in agreement. He might live with the children of Aphrodite, but sometimes Doyoung wished that there were more children of Eros for him to relate with.

“One thing you could do however, is help out with the heating in your cabin. Do you know how cold a marble temple can get at night?” Jaehyun asks, and Doyoung stifles a snort. “And I guess another thing is give me some advice.”

Jaehyun needs advice? What kind?

“There’s this guy,”

Oh.

“And I really like him,” Jaehyun threads his fingers through his hair, “but I think he hates me? I don’t know, but it makes me upset. He’s so nice to everyone else except me, but I still fell for him. But then sometimes I try to rile him up because it’s the only way he’ll talk to me, plus he’s really hot when he’s mad,” Jaehyun laughs bitterly, “I guess I inherited that from you. I want to convince him to give me a chance, but I don’t know how,” Jaehyun sits there, looking expectantly at the statue, “I guess that’s all,” he sighs when the statue doesn’t respond.

Doyoung quickly sneaks out of the clearing, making sure Jaehyun doesn’t see him. He ignores the twisting feeling in his stomach as he walks back to his cabin.

Who could he be talking about?

And why did he feel so jealous?

Chapter Text

“So let me get this straight,” Taeyong says as they creep through the forest, deep in enemy territory. The game has been going on for 30 minutes now, and judging by the lack of red or blue fireworks bursting in the air, neither side had made much progress. “You overheard him talking to Zeus,”

“Uh huh,” Doyoung says, eyes scanning the forest around them for a glimpse of red.

“And he starting asking for advice about a guy. A guy he really likes, and apparently hates him.”

Doyoung throws a glance back at Taeyong, “yeah, didn’t I already explain this to you?”

“You’re so fucking stupid,” Taeyong says, ignoring Doyoung’s offended look, “he was talking about you!”

Doyoung stops, freezing under a tall tree. “Me? What the hell-“

“Yes you dumbass, you. Even an idiot can see that he’s basically in love with you.”

Doyoung is flustered, and avoids Taeyong’s gaze. “No, he just sees me as someone to mess with-“

“Are you kidding me? Look at his face when he sees you, that’ll prove it. How can you even call yourself a son of Eros when-“ Taeyong’s voice shifts to the background as Doyoung’s eyes dart around them. “-he’s been pining for years like-“

Doyoung shoves his hand over Taeyong’s mouth and pulls him into a nearby bush. “Shh!”

“What the hell?” Taeyong whispers but Doyoung shushes him again and points forward. Footsteps can be heard in the distance and within seconds, two sets of feet appear in front of them.

“I swear I heard something,” Taeyong’s eyes widen at the sound of Yuta, the son of Nike’s voice laced with confusion, “weird.”

“They might be somewhere around here,” Jaehyun responds, “shit. If they are, it’s too close to the flag. Let’s go back and guard it.” The foliage around them rustles as the two backtrack to their base. Doyoung and Taeyong glance briefly at each other before nodding and creeping through the forest after them. A small cave appears behind a tree and Jaehyun and Yuta disappear into its entrance.

“Use your charmspeak to distract Yuta,” Doyoung hisses when they edge towards where Doyoung can see a glimpse of red fabric. “I’ll take Jaehyun.”

Taeyong nods before whispering softly, “Yuta, come outside.”

“Yuta? Where are you going?” Jaehyun’s voice echoes against the cave walls.

“I-I think I heard something, I’m gonna check it out,” Yuta responds, stumbling out of the cave, looking dazed.

“Okay, be safe,” Jaehyun calls after him.

“Yuta, over here,” Taeyong calls, slowly receding deeper into the forest. Doyoung presses himself against the rocks near the cave entrance but Yuta doesn’t even look at him, clumsily following the sound of Taeyong’s voice. Doyoung shivers. The power Taeyong holds sometimes is honestly terrifying. Doyoung sneaks into the cave which is lit by a couple of torches, greek fire casting a green glow on their surroundings. He can make out a large red flag and the shadowy shape of Jaehyun’s back. Doyoung smirks, creeping silently behind him until he can reach out with his knife and-

Jaehyun whirls around, just barely dodging Doyoung’s blade, “Doyoung?!” he yells, jumping up and pulling out his own sword, their blades ringing together when they collide.

“Who else,” Doyoung says, and he’d probably roll his eyes too if not for the fact that Jaehyun was slashing back at him.

Jaehyun shakes his head, “you’re always so brash. It’s adorable,” he grins, dimples appearing and Doyoung falters in his step, almost allowing Jaehyun to trip him but he jumps back just in time.

Taeyong’s words from earlier ring in his ears, “he’s been pining for years,” Jaehyun’s eyes are alight with glee as he laughs, stepping forward and parrying Doyoung’s swipe. “Even an idiot can see that he’s basically in love with you.” Doyoung steps back to avoid Jaehyun’s stab, his back hitting the stone wall. “Look at his face when he sees you, that’ll prove it.” Jaehyun’s arms trap Doyoung against the stone and Doyoung’s eyes fly over Jaehyun’s expression. His dimples are as ever-present as his infuriating grin and his eyes shine brightly, reflecting how much he enjoys this.

“What, Bunny? Nothing to say?” Jaehyun teases and Doyoung raises an eyebrow.

“Bunny?”

Jaehyun nods, his breaths still heavy from the exertion, “you look a little bit like a bunny,” Jaehyun’s eyes dart over Doyoung’s features and Doyoung feels a jump in his stomach when he sees something he’d never thought to look for before, “but even cuter,” Jaehyun says softly.

Oh. Doyoung’s mind is wild as he analyzes the way Jaehyun’s eyes stare into his, the stormy grey gaze moving down to trace over the lines of Doyoung’s neck and collarbone. Doyoung may not be Aphrodite’s son, but he’s certainly Eros’, and he can recognize that look anywhere. His knife clatters to the ground and Doyoung’s hands fly up, gripping onto Jaehyun’s shirt.

Doyoung blinks, before calmly scheduling his freak out about this new discovery later, because right now there’s still a game to play. “Jaehyun,” Doyoung says slowly.

Jaehyun freezes, cheeks turning pink as his eyes widen. “Doyoung? What are you-”

Doyoung allows his fingertips to trace over the words that say ‘Camp Half-Blood’ on Jaehyun’s t-shirt and smirks when he feels a shiver in response. He applies some pressure, successfully pushing Jaehyun away from the stone wall. “You just found out something about me a few days ago, what was it?” he asks.

Jaehyun stares at him, his mouth open, “uh, you’re the son of Eros?”

“Yes,” Doyoung purrs, “and tell me, what is Eros the god of?” Doyoung’s fingers fly up to curl into the hair on the back of Jaehyun’s neck, and Jaehyun arches back into the touch.

“He’s Cupid,” Jaehyun says with a whine and Doyoung ignores the way it makes his stomach clench, “so matchmaking?”

“Go on,” Doyoung says, his head tipping to fan his breath over Jaehyun’s neck.

Jaehyun jumps slightly and laughs nervously, his hands cautiously lifting to wrap around Doyoung’s waist, “uh, Match.com? Tinder? Christian Mingle?”

Doyoung chuckles, his lips barely brushing against Jaehyun’s collarbone and he shudders, “no. Try again.”

Jaehyun groans and Doyoung feels his mind go blank for a second. “Bunny, give me a hint,” he says, his grip around Doyoung’s waist tightening.

Doyoung leans back and stares with hooded-eyes into Jaehyun’s blown out ones. Jaehyun’s hands are heavy against him as Doyoung whispers, “Eros is the god of sensual and sexual love and desire.”

“Oh my god,” Jaehyun breathes out.

“So Jaehyun,” Doyoung asks, his lips curling up, “let’s find out how much I inherited.”

Jaehyun’s a goner. “Fuck, Doie.” He stares at him, and Doyoung can literally see the gears struggling to turn in his mind. Almost immediately, Doyoung’s eyes dart to the flag and he slips out of Jaehyun’s grip, hands wrapping around red fabric before he darts out of the cave, leaving behind a dazed son of Zeus.

He’s already deep into the forest when he hears a sword clattering against stone, and a familiar voice yelling, “what the hell?!”

Doyoung runs even faster, the river in clear view, and he’s met with Taeyong waiting on the other side, greeting him with a wide smile as Doyoung immediately wades through the cold water. As soon as he steps on dry land, fireworks burst into the air as a horn rings through the forest, and Doyoung looks up at the blue bursts with shock.

Taeyong’s arms wrap around Doyoung as he screams, “we won! We really won!”

Doyoung looks at Taeyong, eyes wide, “where’s Yuta?” he breathes out.

Taeyong’s arms fall and he looks at Doyoung curiously, “left him knocked out in the forest, why?” Taeyong’s eyes narrow, “what happened in the cave?”

“I-,” Doyoung stutters, “I think I gave him a boner.”

“You what?!”

“Mr. Taeyong?”

“Yes Donghyuck?”

“Why am I here? Isn’t this meeting just for children of Aphrodite and Doyoung?”

Taeyong sighs, looking at the son of Helios. “For some reason, Doyoung trusts you, you little demon child. So you’re here.”

“Thanks,” Donghyuck grins, lowering his hand and sitting back against Jaemin. “Just wondering.”

Taeyong nods, looking at all of his siblings (and Donghyuck) before turning disapprovingly to Doyoung. “Now Doyoung, explain to everyone what happened.”

Doyoung flushes, glancing at all of the people crowded around his bed and he burrows further into the blanket cocoon he’d been wrapped in since the match. “I may have realized that Jaehyun likes me.”

Immediately, the entire cabin groans and almost unanimously rolls their eyes. “Finally!” Jaemin says.

“And then I may have taken advantage of it and kind of gave him a boner?”

“What the fuck,” Donghyuck says, looking at Doyoung with mild disgust. “That’s gross.”

“But now I’m sort of freaking out because he has feelings for me? Like actual feelings? Holy shit I was the one he was talking about to his dad-” Doyoung’s eyes widen before he immediately lands face-first into his pillow, pulling the blankets above his head. “Jung Jaehyun has feelings for me.” Doyoung moans, his voice muffled by the layers.

Taeyong rips off the blankets, “of course he does dumbass, we’ve been trying to tell you for ages.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Jaemin asks, his eyes showing his excitement.

“Nothing?” Doyoung says and winces at the resounding groans.

“Nothing?!” Jaemin says.

“You have to do something,” Taeyong frowns.

“Yeah,” Donghyuck adds, “you probably should.”

“What should I do then?” Doyoung says.

“Do you like him back?” Donghyuck asks. His arms are crossed as he eyes Doyoung suspiciously.

“I-I don’t know,” Doyoung mutters, threading his hands through his hair.

“Well figure that out first. Then we can help you,” Taeyong sighs and shakes his head.

Doyoung does his best to ignore Jaehyun while he fights through his feelings. And by ‘fights,’ that’s exactly what he means. “Oh my god, stop,” Mark pants, holding up his hand, the other gripping against a heavy hammer as Mark struggles to breathe.

“Gotta keep up,” Doyoung says, but relaxes his stance, sword resting against his side.

“I’m so tired,” Mark collapses against the ground, “you’re insane.”

“He is,” Doyoung turns and immediately looks down at the sight of the one person he didn’t want to see, accompanied by Yukhei, who laughs at Mark. Mark flips him off.

“Jaehyun,” Doyoung says cautiously, eyeing Jaehyun suspiciously.

“Doyoung,” Jaehyun answers calmly, as if nothing had happened.

“Do you need anything?”

“I noticed your sparring partner is down for the count,” Jaehyun says, and Doyoung turns to see Mark and Yukhei arguing about something dumb. “Want a new one?”

Doyoung’s eyes narrow before he nods, “sure, I guess.”

Jaehyun smiles and Doyoung’s eyes watch the dimples in his cheeks appear. “Sweet.”

It’s weird, how quickly their friendship forms. Doyoung and Jaehyun start claiming each other as their sparring partner, and it only escalates from there. After a swordfight Jaehyun walks with Doyoung back to the dining hall for lunch and invites him over to his table. Doyoung learns that Jaehyun looks strangely cute while going off on a tangent about his favorite TV show. Doyoung runs into Jaehyun and his friends having a water gun fight on the beach and Doyoung spends the day trying to outrun Jaehyun, laughing harder than he had in a long time. Doyoung and Jaehyun agree to move their sparring practice to the morning and spend their afternoons trying to race each other up the climbing wall.

Everynight, Doyoung returns exhausted, flopping down on his bunk and decidedly ignoring his cabinmates’ knowing looks.

It’s one of those morning practices when Doyoung realizes. The familiar sound of bronze against bronze rings in Doyoung’s ears as he pushes against Jaehyun, feet digging into the dirt floor beneath them. There’s no one around, the sky still a pale orange that washes them in a warm glow. Doyoung can feel the sweat dripping off of his back when Jaehyun lunges forward, dropping his sword and catching Doyoung by surprise when his hands wrap around his shoulders, putting him off balance and they both go tumbling down. Jaehyun’s knee slips in between Doyoung’s legs and his hands come out to brace himself over Doyoung. Jaehyun grins up at Doyoung before laughing and Doyoung stares up at Jaehyun, his heart beating wildly. Jaehyun rolls off of him, flopping down on the hard dirt next to him, still laughing softly.

“What was that?” Doyoung pants.

“I dunno, just wanted to try something new,” Jaehyun grins, his chest moving heavily.

Doyoung shakes his head and laughs, “it was stupid.”

“But it worked.” Jaehyun says, and Doyoung glances over at him. “Right Bunny?” He’s smiling, those damn dimples appearing again. In the pale morning light Jaehyun shines, the son of Zeus exuding happiness. Jaehyun looks back at Doyoung, smiling even wider, and Doyoung flushes a light pink.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

“How was your practice?” Taeyong yawns, watching Doyoung walk quickly back into the cabin.

“Uh,” Doyoung says, looking at Taeyong with frantic eyes, “we have a problem.”

Taeyong looks up, worried. “What is it? Did he start being a dick again? Did he-”

“No! No, he’s good. Better than good, I guess,” Doyoung laughs bitterly.

“Then what’s wrong?” Taeyong asks.

“I-I think,” Doyoung paces around the room before stopping in front of Taeyong. “I think I like him back.”

Taeyong’s eyes widen before the son of Aphrodite grins. “Finally! We’ve been wishing for this for forever!”

“Taeyong,” Doyoung whines, “what do I do?”

Taeyong’s smile turns suddenly evil and Doyoung shudders. “Oh Doyoung,” he says, “I know exactly what you need to do.”

Chapter Text

“Are you sure about this?” Doyoung asks, strapping a leather cuff onto his forearm.

Taeyong rolls his eyes, “it’s about love. Of course I’m sure.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” Doyoung mutters while adjusting the quiver on his back. His team is excited, fresh off of last week’s win and Doyoung laughs when he sees Renjun and Jeno reenacting scenes from The Last Airbender.

Taeil is joining Doyoung and Taeyong today, since Mark decided to join Donghyuck, Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin on defense after Yukhei tackled him to the ground during the previous match. The son of Apollo slides his sword into its scabbard, looking between the two of them. “I’m not really sure what you two are talking about and I don’t think I want to.” Taeyong and Doyoung both shake their head.

“No you probably don’t,” Taeyong says before he’s cut off by the sound of two sharp horn blasts, signifying that the game is about to start.

“Fuck,” Doyoung scrambles to tuck his knife into the strap around his thigh as he stands up. “Five minutes everyone! Let’s fucking win this!”

The river is cold, the water soaking into Doyoung’s pants as they rush into Jaehyun’s territory. Donghyuck quickly waves his hands over Doyoung, Taeyong and Taeil’s legs, heat radiating off of his hands as the fabric is immediately dried. “See ya, good luck!” The son of Helios grins before running back through the river to the other side to join Jeno, Renjun, Mark and Jaemin.

“Last time the flag was in a cave,” Doyoung says as they walk through the trees, his eyes scanning the foliage around them. “They’ve probably moved it from there.”

“There’s this cliff formation about half a mile east,” Taeil says, “it could be there.”

“I don’t know,” Taeyong frowns, “they did something rocky last time so I don’t think they’d do it again. What about the pond near the mouth of the river?”

“Too many monsters there,” Taeil says.

“If I was Jaehyun,” Doyoung mutters, “what would I do?”

“Probably kiss you,” Taeyong snickers while Doyoung glares at him with red cheeks.

Taeil eyes them suspiciously, “I feel like I’ve missed something.”

“Nothing, just Doyoung realizing that Jaehyun has a fat crush on him and that he reciprocates it,” Taeyong says.

“Oh. That’s all?” Taeil asks and both of them refuse to look at Doyoung, who’s pouting. “I thought it was something new.”

“You guys are assholes,” Doyoung rolls his eyes and pushes past a low-hanging branch, grinning when he hears Taeyong’s yelp when the branch swings back at him. “I say we head down towards the shore, past the cliffs.”

Taeyong nods in agreement, “let’s go.”

“Fuck,” Doyoung whispers, holding up his hand and Taeyong and Taeil immediately halt in their paths. It was only a matter of time before they ran into a member of the opposing team, but Doyoung still scowls at the sight of Johnny Seo walking through the forest, humming a little tune as the son of Dionysus casually balances a large battle axe over his shoulders. They’re close to the rocky formation known as Zeus’ Fist, and Doyoung eyes the way the rocks jut out just a few hundred yards away.

“What do we do?” Taeil hisses while they watch Johnny.

“We have to take him out,” Taeyong says, “we’re in enemy territory so we can’t capture him.”

“We can knock him out,” Doyoung says.

Taeil hesitates, “as long as he doesn’t get too hurt.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your sort-of-but-not-really-boyfriend is fine,” Doyoung rolls his eyes.

“He just might get a little concussion,” Taeyong smiles, patting Taeil’s back as his face blanches.

“Might knock out the few brain cells he has left,” Doyoung jokes.

“No he needs those!” Taeil says, “why don’t we just try sneaking around him-”

“Well what do we have here?” The trio looks up in horror to see Johnny walking towards them, the axe now placed comfortably in his hands as he smirks at them.

“Fuck,” Taeyong says.

“God dammit,” Doyoung slides his hunting knife out of his scabbard.

“Hi Johnny,” Taeil says nervously, brandishing his sword.

“Aw Moonpie,” Johnny smiles at him, “I hate to do this to you guys but I’m going to have to capture you three.”

Doyoung snorts, “I’d like to see you try.” He jumps forward, closing the gap between them and slashing forward. Johnny jumps back, blocking the hit with the metal hilt of his axe.

Taeyong runs in too, yelling “surrender!” and moving to strike down Johnny but Johnny just twirls the axe while stepping away before swinging it down, almost nicking Taeyong. “Put down your weapon!”

Johnny grins, ignoring the son of Aphrodite, “sorry Taeyong, your little charmspeak trick won’t work this time,” he points at his ears and Doyoung curses.

“Fucking airpods?! Are you kidding me?”

Taeil steps forward, using his sword to block a strike toward Doyoung, “I got them for his birthday! I didn’t think he’d use them like this!”

“This is bullshit!” Taeyong complains and stabs upward, forcing Johnny to jump back again.

“I agree, I thought technology wasn’t even supposed to work for demigods!” Doyoung pushes forward, using his knife to clash against Johnny’s axe, the metal skidding off of each other.

“I got Mark to fiddle around with them! Sorry!” Taeil says as the three of them corner Johnny closer and closer to Zeus’ Fist, until they’re standing close to the edge.

Johnny is panting, exhaustion showing on his face but he still twirls his axe and lunges towards Doyoung. Doyoung immediately blocks it before he crouches and jumps forward, knocking Johnny off balance. “Shit!” He says, “watch out!” but Johnny can’t hear him. His foot slips and Johnny’s eyes widen as he tumbles down the tall rocks.

“Fuck!” Taeil’s eyes widen and he climbs down the rocks to hover over Johnny. He pulls out a square of ambrosia, a sweet cake that can heal demigods and immortals, and pushes it into Johnny’s mouth as the son of Dionysus groans. “He’ll be okay, just dazed,” Doyoung and Taeyong can hear Taeil call, “I’m just going to take him to the infirmary,” Taeil looks up at them, “go on without me!”

Taeyong frowns but they nod while Taeil loops one of Johnny’s arms around his shoulders, pulling him to his feet. “Oof,” Taeyong says and Doyoung winces, nodding in agreement.

Doyoung shakes his head, “c’mon, the shore is close.”

The waves crash mockingly against the sand as Doyoung and Taeyong scour the edge of the forest. “I don’t think we’re in the right place,” Taeyong says and flops down on the sand.

“You’re right,” Doyoung says, giving up.

“What now?”

“You can give up and surrender!” Doyoung jumps, looking behind Taeyong. Nakamoto Yuta is stepping out of the trees, pointing a spear towards them with a large shield in his other hand.

“How the fuck do they keep sneaking up on us?” Doyoung says as Taeyong stands up and pulls out his sword.

Taeyong opens his mouth but before he can say anything Yuta throws a small pouch wrapped in fabric at him. Taeyong lifts his hands to cover his face and the pouch strikes him, exploding into a cloud of lilac dust that rains down on him.

“What the fuck?” Doyoung says as Taeyong coughs up the dust. He opens his mouth to speak, but the son of Aphrodite is silent and his eyes widen.

“A little something to silence Yongie,” Yuta grins, “got it from Kun.”

Taeyong wipes off his mouth and glares at Yuta before charging at him, his mouth open in a nonexistent scream.

Yuta grins, using his shield to block out all of Taeyong’s attacks. He’s about to stab into Taeyong’s side when Doyoung steps in, pushing away the spear and joining Taeyong. “I fucking hate magic,” Doyoung grumbles, him and Taeyong slicing nicks into Yuta’s shield.

Yuta laughs wildly, looking a bit like a madman and Doyoung wonders why Taeyong decided to pick Yuta as his crush. Taeyong, on the other hand, has seemingly forgotten all about his feelings for the son of Nike and is attacking Yuta with a fire in his eyes.

“That all you got?” Yuta asks and Taeyong flips him off before kicking out Yuta’s feet, sending him crashing to the ground. Yuta rolls out of the way as Taeyong's blade descends, the metal sinking into the wood of Yuta’s shield. Yuta jumps up again as Taeyong struggles to pull his sword out of the thick wood and Doyoung just manages to knock Yuta’s spear off course, narrowly missing Taeyong. He swings his knife upward, almost disarming Yuta but he manages to maintain his grip on the handle. Yuta thrusts the spear toward Doyoung, and Taeyong steps in between, clashing his sword against the tip.

Suddenly, Yuta swings the spear in a wide arc, and Doyoung ducks down to avoid it but Taeyong isn’t as lucky. A loud thump rings through the forest and Taeyong’s eyes roll into the back of his head as he crumples to the ground. “Shit!” Doyoung yells, as Yuta stands over Taeyong, his manic grin bared toward the son of Eros and Doyoung’s eyes widen before he turns and runs deep into the trees. There’s a thud on the tree next to him and Doyoung flinches to avoid chips of bark that go flying as Yuta’s spear embeds into the trunk while he escapes.

He’s not sure where he ends up, but there’s the sound of water flowing and he figures he must be near the river again. Doyoung slumps against a tree, panting. He pauses, eyes darting around him. It’s quiet, too quiet, and Doyoung listens carefully when he hears it. A soft hissing sound sneaks up on him and Doyoung whirls around, eyes widening.

A huge scaly mass shifts through the forest, the lizard-like monster approaching him. It’s neck branches out into nine appendages, each with a dragon-like head and razor-sharp teeth that ooze a green gel that causes the grass below to sizzle when it drips down. The hydra gets even closer, a sour scent filling the air. It hasn’t seen Doyoung yet, but he knows he needs to escape, fast, to avoid catching its attention. Doyoung moves silently through the trees, eyeing the monster nervously when he sees it—a flash of red moves across his gaze as Doyoung glances in between the writhing necks to catch a glimpse of Jaehyun watching him from high in a tree, a bright red flag wrapped diagonally across his torso, eyes wide as he watches Doyoung try to escape from the hydra.

Doyoung’s panicked look catches Jaehyun’s attention, and Jaehyun leans forward, almost falling out of the tree. Doyoung’s heart stops, and he steps forward quickly. Immediately, Doyoung steps on a branch, the snap ringing like a gunshot through the forest. He freezes, but it’s too late. All nine heads whirl toward him, hissing violently and Doyoung ducks behind a tree trunk to avoid a spray of toxic acid, the rancid smell filling his nostrils as a burning hiss fills the air. The monster roars and Doyoung quickly notches an arrow, stepping out to fire it. It strikes the monster just as one of the heads opens its mouth, the arrow striking the back of its throat and it lets out an unearthly shriek that chills the forest.

“Doyoung!” Jaehyun yells and half of the heads whip around to turn toward Jaehyun. He jumps down from the tree, landing against the monster’s scaly back and Jaehyun rolls out of the way as the monster’s teeth gnash against the air where he used to be. Jaehyun stabs his sword into its back, being careful not to slice its neck since the hydra will just regenerate two more heads if beheaded.

He jumps off of the monster, running over to where Doyoung is as Doyoung sends another arrow sailing into the monster, striking its chest.

“What are you doing here?! This section of the forest is dangerous!” Doyoung yells over the monsters roars as they run through the woods.

“We tied the flag to me so I had to keep moving!” Jaehyun says, and he turns around to fend off a head that snakes towards them, his sword plunging into its forehead before he pulls it out, covered in blood. “Besides, I could say the same to you!”

“I was running from Yuta!” Doyoung says while sending another arrow into an open mouth, the monster crashing through the forest behind them.

“How the fuck do you defeat this thing?!” Jaehyun whirls around and smacks one of the heads with the butt of his sword before he literally curls up a fist and punches it in the nose, the head flying back, dazed. “We can’t behead it.”

Doyoung grimaces, pulling out his knife and joining Jaehyun, stabbing his knife upwards into the underside of a head, jumping out of the way to avoid a spray of acid. He tries to think back to the lessons they had to sit through on monsters when his eyes light up, “fire! You defeat it with fire!”

“Well gee,” Jaehyun says sarcastically as he ducks behind a tree trunk to dodge a volley of acid, “should have packed fire with me today.”

Doyoung manages to roll his eyes while grabbing one of the arrows in his quiver and stabbing it through one of the monster’s tongues. “No you dumbass, use that lighting shit!” He yells over the monster’s roar.

Jaehyun’s sword clashes against sharp teeth as the sky darkens, thunder rumbling around them. The wind picks up, and Doyoung has to struggle to stay on his feet while dodging the monster’s wild appendages. He looks over to see Jaehyun’s eyes cloud over with grey but his legs are swept out underneath him by a scaley neck and the wind is knocked out of his chest as he lands on his back, face-to-face with a hideous dragon-like snarl. The hydra blows rancid air onto Doyoung and he squints his eyes shut, his hands scrambling for his knife, his fingers just barely wrapping around the handle. Thunder rumbles again while teeth gnash in his face, and Doyoung feels his stomach lurch.

Suddenly, there’s a loud crack in the air and a bright strike of lightning flies down toward him, landing directly on the monster’s back. The hydra crackles with electricity, a dreadful screech echoing out of all of its mouths before it slumps over, black smoke rising out of its body. Doyoung pants as the heavy head is pushed off of his body, Jaehyun grabbing his free hand and pulling him up. Doyoung slumps over heavily onto Jaehyun’s chest and Jaehyun’s hands fly up to support his weight.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun asks, the sound of water rushing in the background.

“You,” Doyoung stares into Jaehyun’s concerned eyes, “you saved me.”

Jaehyun smiles slowly, “of course I did.” The clouds clear and sunlight beams through the forest again, bouncing off of Jaehyun’s chestnut brown hair, tousled by the wind as his dimples carve deeply into his face.

“Thank you,” Doyoung breathes out shakily.

“No problem,” Jaehyun says back, and his hands rise up to gingerly rest against Doyoung’s cheeks. “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he says honestly.

Doyoung smiles back before he lifts his hand too, but instead of cupping Jaehyun’s face his knife flies down, slashing across the knot of the flag tied around Jaehyun’s chest. The red fabric twists around his fingers as Doyoung tears himself from Jaehyun’s grasp. Jaehyun’s face morphs into one of shock and he immediately chases after Doyoung, but it’s too late.

As soon as Doyoung steps onto the other side, a loud horn sounds and blue fireworks burst in the air, brilliant patterns lighting up the sky. Doyoung feels a wide grin spreading onto his face and he turns around, eyes on Jaehyun.

The son of Zeus stands in the middle of the river, a sad smile on his lips as he stares at Doyoung. “I guess you won.”

“Yeah,” Doyoung breathes out, oblivious to the sound of his teammates flooding out of the forest, rejoicing in the background.

“That means you also won the bet.” On Jaehyun’s side, his teammates also emerge from the forest, patting themselves on the back for a good effort as they bridge across the river, joining their friends.

“Yeah.” Doyoung sees Taeyong wander out, leaning against Yuta as they laugh, a bandage wrapped around his head.

“I’ll honor it, Bunny. I’ll leave you alone from now on,” Jaehyun says, sighing. The red fabric drops from Doyoung’s hand. “I’ll miss you-”

Jaehyun is cut off by Doyoung running through the water, landing in Jaehyun’s arms and the son of Zeus’ arms automatically lift up to wrap around his waist as Doyoung grabs Jaehyun’s face, pulling him into a deep kiss. The fireworks are still going off in the sky, bursting loudly, the river is freezing cold against his skin and their friends around them cheer and whistle but Doyoung doesn’t care.

Their lips move frantically against each other and Jaehyun’s hands slowly spread across the small of his back as he grins into the kiss. Doyoung can feel his dimples grow underneath his fingertips as he tilts his head, their lips moving softly against each other before he pulls back, a tiny line of saliva breaking between them. “I changed my mind,” he says.

Jaehyun’s hands tighten around Doyoung’s waist, “did you?” he asks gleefully.

“I think my prize for winning should be a date,” Doyoung says and Jaehyun throws his head back and laughs.

“At this point? I’d give you anything.” Jaehyun dips his head down to capture Doyoung’s lips again.