Chapter Text
“Park Jimin, please report to the headmaster’s office. Park Jimin to the headmaster’s office.”
The professor continued lecturing without pause as Jimin stood from his seat and made his way towards the door, far used to the interruption.
As he left, Jimin shot an exasperated glare towards Taehyung, whose shoulders were shaking with barely restrained laughter.
Gods damned son of a banshee.
Jimin jabbed his index and middle fingers towards his eyes, before pointing towards his friend menacingly, mouthing ‘you’re next’ as he stepped out into the hallway. He meandered down the hall like he had all the time in the world, the heels of his boots echoing loudly through the empty corridor, as he racked his brain for what Headmaster Lee could have caught him doing this time.
Did they finally find the bison we let into the library? No, Tae said he let it out after it ate through all the scrolls on the Trojan War. Did they figure out he cast the soundwave tumultus charm on the PA system? Or did they finally trace the arrow shower in the boys locker room back to us? It might be-
“Kim Jimin.” A cold drawl startled him out of his thoughts, and Jimin stuttered to a halt as he looked around for the owner of the voice. He looked down the hall both ways: empty. He scanned his eyes over the little courtyard to his left: empty, save for the little cluster of nymphs and dryads enjoying a picnic under the warm April sun. None of them paid him any attention, though. He cast a quick glance towards the marble wall on his right, and heaved a heavy sigh at the lattice of thick grape vines wriggling through cracks that certainly did not exist moments ago.
The air around him warmed and sweetened, filling with the cloying scent of over-sugared grape juice, as Headmaster Lee materialized in front of Jimin in all his pudgy un-glory, with his arms crossed and his left eyebrow arched just so .
“It’s actually Park Jimin,” he mumbled, stamping down the spark of irritation that flared up in his chest. Jimin knew the headmaster knew his name, yet Lee stubbornly refused to call him by it, purposefully using the wrong surname to mock his mortal ties as unimportant and unmemorable.
“That’s what I said,” Headmaster Lee waved his hand dismissively, and Jimin had to bite his tongue to hold back a snarky response. He could almost hear his mother’s voice in his ear, reminding him to keep his calm.
Deep breaths, Jimin ah. A calm hunter makes for a clean hunt.
Gritting his teeth, Jimin dropped the subject and bowed lowly to the elder man. “You wanted to see me?”
“I have nothing to say to you," the headmaster said boredly, looking like he wanted nothing more than to order Jimin out of his sight. "I am merely here to formally deliver your summons."
My what? Jimin's eyes widened in surprise as Lee reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver drawstring pouch, thrumming with energy. He chucked the pouch into the air between them and Jimin had just enough time to duck out of the way before it exploded in a cloud of thick silvery mist with a bang!
Jimin coughed and fanned the air in front of his face, ears ringing with the aftershocks of the miniature bomb. A pit of dread sprouted heavy in his gut as the moonshine gas condensed into the form of a young man with icy blonde hair and sharp brown eyes, and he just barely suppressed a groan.
Shit.
"Park Jimin," the hologram glared, crossing his arms and straightening to his full height (which was one inch shorter than himself, Jimin noted smugly). "You little fucker."
Even though the hologram couldn't see him, Jimin rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and mirroring his brother's stance.
"I know it was you who stuffed that poppy under my pillow!" Jonghyun accused, and oh Hades this was so much worse than Jimin had been expecting.
"I slept through the Hunt because of you!" Jonghyun seethed, and Jimin winced.
Oops.
The Hunt was a monthly competition each Olympic family participated in. Students in their 23rd year and above had the opportunity to participate in a 24 hour long hunt for a variety of monsters released into the Ash Forest. It was always a fierce competition between the students because everyone wanted to make their parents proud . Although Jimin had never participated, as he was only in his 21st year, he knew that ever since Jonghyun had come of age 3 years ago, he'd led Artemis' children to victory every month without fail.
Except for yesterday, when Aries' children broke their 29 month streak- the longest in school history- and hadn't stopped bragging about it since.
"I put up with a lot of your shit, Min, but this is too far! Have some gods damned respect for your hyungs, yeah?"
He wasn't supposed to sleep for that long, Jimin thought crossly. Taehyung promised there was only a temporary sleeping charm on the flower!
"So I'm gonna teach you a lesson," Jonghyun continued, snapping Jimin out of his pouting. "I, Kim Jonghyun, son of Artemis, challenge you, Park Jimin, son of Artemis, to a duel. Sunset. Tomorrow. The Birdcage. Bows drawn. And if you're a real son of Artemis," Jonghyun paused, eyes glittering with a taunt. "You'll accept."
Heat zagged through Jimin's veins as the hologram collapsed with a whoosh of glitter. Normally he and Jonghyun got along well, but it had always been a sore spot for Jimin that everyone assumed Jonghyun was more skilled because he was older.
Now Jimin could finally prove he was just as talented as Jonghyun was.
"Well?" Lee drawled, looking terribly bored by the entire situation. "Do you accept?"
"Yes," Jimin grit out, clenching his fists and staring the headmaster down. "I, Park Jimin, son of Artemis, accept this challenge."
~•~
“Yah, Kim Taehyung! I’m gonna kill you!”
No one so much as batted an eyelash as Jimin burst into Apollo’s dorm and thundered down the hall; Taehyung’s brothers and sisters beyond used to the small archer storming in after class while threatening murder.
Jimin barged into Taehyung’s room without bothering to knock, immediately jumping on his boyfriend where he was lying on his bed, earbuds in, watching Naruto on his phone.
“Yah!” Taehyung startled, yanking his earbuds out as he tried to dodge Jimin’s small fists which were mercilessly pounding everywhere they could reach. “Let off! What did I ever do to you?”
“You said that poppy was enchanted to only last ten hours!” Jimin pinched the soft skin of Taehyung’s forearm tightly in punishment. “Jonghyun was supposed to miss his first period class! Not miss the Hunt! ”
“Ouch- Yuna swore it was a temporary charm!” Taehyung protested, slapping Jimin’s hand away and gripping his arm woundedly. “I told you exactly what she told me! So unless she lied-” Taehyung stopped mid sentence, mouth dropping open in a perfect ‘o’. “Oh, that bitch .” He tossed aside his phone and stood up, grabbing his violin in one hand and Jimin’s arm in the other, and dragging him back towards the hall. “I think we need to have a little talk with her.”
“Just where do you two think you’re going?” One of Taehyung’s brothers stood blocking the door as Taehyung and Jimin marched across the dorm. “Headmaster Lee put you two on early curfew last week after you charmed his Pegasus’ feathers neon green, remember? You’re not allowed to leave the dorm without a chaperone after classes end.”
After trying to dodge around his hyung to no avail, Taehyung heaved a dramatic sigh “Kibum hyuuuung~” he pouted his lips and batted his eyelashes in his best aegyo. “We just wanted to hop on over to Hypnos’ dorm to have a quick chat with Yuna! You know, get all the latest gossip~ who’s dreaming about who…”
“Well then, if you’re just going for some tea, you shouldn’t need your enchanted violin, now would you?” Quick as a flash Kibum reached out and snatched Taehyung’s violin case from his hand.
Curses! Jimin groaned inwardly as Taehyung reacted a second too late, reaching out limply for his instrument which Kibum held triumphantly out of reach.
“No, well, you see- I need my violin because, um, I promised Yuna I’d play her a new lullaby!” Taehyung lied, the excuse flimsy even to his own ears.
“Sure you were,” Kibum drawled, whacking Taehyung upside the head. “Don’t lie to your hyungs, brat.”
“We have some unfinished business that we need to take care of,” Jimin explained vaguely. “She got me into trouble with Hyunnie hyung.”
Kibum winced. “Does this have anything to do with why he skipped the Hunt?”
“Maybe...” Jimin deflated like a balloon that’d been pricked with a pin at the pitiful look on Kibum’s face. “Is he really that mad?”
“You’d know exactly how mad he is if you weren’t hiding out in Taehyung’s room every second you’re not in class,” Kibum shook his head ruefully. “He’s furious. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t come after you yet.”
“Oh,” Jimin chuckled darkly. “He already did. Challenged me to a duel. Which is exactly why I need to see Yuna and beat the Tartarus out of her!”
“Wait- when did this happen?” Taehyung looked to Jimin in surprise. “You didn’t tell me?!”
“You’d find out eventually,” Jimin shrugged. “You know the dryads are horrible gossips, and pretty much every tree in the East Wing courtyard heard that bang.” A sudden thought occurred to him, and he spun to face Kibum accusingly. “But you already knew, didn’t you? Because you lent hyung the naphtha he needed for that moonshine bomb.”
“I did no such thing!” Kibum’s eyes widened in innocence. “That was Myungjun!”
“But you knew? ” Taehyung rounded on his brother, looking hurt. “Why didn’t you give us a heads up? Then Jimin could have prepared-”
“I didn’t know what he needed it for!” Kibum said defensively. “Jonghyun just said he needed some ‘explosive sun juice’ to settle a score, and I told him MJ distills it the best! I didn’t know it had anything to do with Jimin!”
Taehyung sighed heavily, eyeing his watch. It was nearly eight, which meant the security harpies would be finishing up their shift, and the night guard had just arrived. Breaking curfew with the security harpies was one thing - all you had to do was leave an offering of sashimi by their perch and they’d be distracted for hours - but the sphinxes on the night guard were ruthless .
Jimin had nearly been eaten last month for failing to answer their riddle when he and Taehyung had been caught sneaking into the bar to switch the nectar with beer. Sure, everything had turned out okay in the end, because thankfully Taehyung had his violin on him and was able to produce a screeching note that ruffled her feathers long enough for Jimin to escape, but those damned sphinxes had such keen noses that sneaking out just wasn’t worth the hassle unless they had a particularly good prank.
In short, Yuna just wasn’t worth the risk of being caught breaking their curfew.
“Let’s just ask her tomorrow,” Taehyung relented, tugging Jimin’s elbow and leading him to sit in the dorm’s common area. “It’s not like she can help you get out of it, anyways. You’ve already accepted the challenge.”
“But it’ll make me feel better,” Jimin whined, sinking into the plush velvet couch and curling into Taehyung’s side.
“I’m sorry, my moon,” Taehyung leaned down and kissed Jimin’s pout, trying to distract him with cuddles. “But I think I can come up with another way to make you feel better that doesn’t involve either of us getting eaten by a sphinx.” He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. “We could go back to my room, work up a sweat, get those endorphins pumping-”
“I assume you’ll be staying for dinner, Jimin ah? ” Kibum cut in pointedly, inching towards the kitchen.
Jimin nodded.
“I’ll tell Sana to make an extra plate for you,” Kibum smiled kindly, as he headed to help his sister prepare dinner. “So run along to Taehyung’s room, now.” Under his breath, just loud enough for Jimin and Taehyung to hear, he muttered, “don't fuck on the couch, you nasties.”
“I was talking about archery!” Taehyung snapped at his brother, sticking his tongue out at the doorway Kibum disappeared through. “Target practice is a great way to relieve pent up anger!”
“You were?” Jimin pouted. “Darn.”
Taehyung rolled his eyes. Standing up, he threw Jimin over his shoulder and carried him back to his room, smacking his rear because, well, why not? “Pretty sure I have a picture of Yuna somewhere around here that we can use for target practice.”
Jimin hummed in satisfaction. “You find the photo, I’ll get the bows. Can’t wait to shoot her eyes out.”