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“Are you ready?”
“I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?” Seokjin beseeches. “If this works, it’s going to turn on you immediately.”
Jungkook unclasps the pearl clip in his hair, catching the gleaming sword of celestial bronze it becomes adeptly in his right hand. “I’m sure, hyung. You should prepare yourself too.”
“Okay, okay,” Seokjin mumbles. He bounces up and down several times, clearly psyching himself up.
Thanks to the camp’s boundaries, monsters don’t appear in these woods unless summoned. Which is exactly what they intended to do. As the Son of Hades, it was one of the many perks Seokjin had up his sleeve. But it goes against their better instincts and if word got out that there was a monster on the loose, there would be hell to pay. Mr D. would have their ass.
Seokjin snaps his fingers and for a moment nothing changes. A twig snaps somewhere in the forest. A hellhound with snarling teeth and blood red eyes appears before them, leaning on its haunches and preparing to pounce.
Jungkook’s heart flutters slightly at how Seokjin fearlessly holds the stare of the hellhound and faces it head on. Once more, Seokjin snaps his fingers, this time with the sound akin to a crack of a whip. A gust of wind seemed to ripple from his hand, resounding across the clearing. There is a tense moment as the hellhound pants heavily, it’s mouth lolling open to uncoil its long tongue. But then the hellhound turns on Jungkook and springs.
Jungkook moves on pure instinct, sword slashing through the hellhound with ease and making it explode in a cloud of black dust.
“It worked!” Seokjin cheers, completely undeterred by the fact that he was covered head to toe in monster dust. “Just call me the Master of the Mist!”
“Alright, Master of the Mist. It’s rather unseemly for you to be this filthy. How about I help with that?” Jungkook asks playfully.
With a raise of his hand, Jungkook wills the river to rise and before Seokjin could open his mouth to protest, he flings it at him. Seokjin lets out a gasp upon contact but his indignation quickly melts away when Jungkook wraps him tightly in a warm embrace, keeping him dry.
“Couldn’t you have gently hosed me down?” Seokjin pouts.
“This is more fun,” Jungkook giggles. “But that time was good, hyung! The hellhound didn’t even question it before it went for me. You’re really getting better at it.”
Seokjin’s ears redden in embarrassment from his praise and he buries his face in Jungkook's neck. “Thank you,” he murmurs sincerely.
Although Seokjin had assured him that controlling the Mist was merely a new skill he wanted to obtain, Jungkook knew better. If Seokjin can master it, he’d be able to keep monsters at bay without having to resort to a fight. He could simply make them believe that he was nothing but an ordinary mortal and be undisturbed. That kind of thing was unheard of for a demigod of the Big Three. Their scent was too powerful, too alluring that had every monster in the country determined to track them down and devour them. Seokjin had tried once, to live a normal life in the mortal world. He had barely lasted a month and he had returned, severely injured as he stumbled over the camp’s boundaries and unwilling to share what he had been through.
Since then, Seokjin had resigned to being a year-rounder at camp like Jungkook is. But sometimes Seokjin pauses in what he’s doing, looking over the boundaries of the camp as if he could see beyond it. When the rain skirts around the camp, Seokjin looks morosely at the sky as if he longed to be drenched, to experience normality.
Jungkook isn’t ready for him to leave.
Although it had been years since the Pact had been dissolved, the Big Three had understandable reservations about fathering more children. Seokjin had already been there as a year-rounder for several years before Jungkook had shown up and Chiron had extreme misgivings at the two of them. Children of the Big Three are typically stronger than most demigods and capable of terrible destruction when together. As it so happened, their sparring sessions had been the stuff of legends at camp and the Hecate cabin hadn’t been too happy at being caught in the crossfire.
It seemed to go against fate itself when they fell in love instead. They had triumphed over prophecies that promised pain and were hailed as the camp’s heroes. But Chiron still had yet to relax entirely around them. Great events of history were shaped due to love. If anything was to happen to Seokjin, Jungkook casts those thoughts aside. Nothing would happen to him.
“Well, we better hurry or we’ll be late,” Seokjin says, holding out his hand.
They’re standing before a class of young, wide-eyed demigods, all of them clutching their new weapons with immense trepidation. Seokjin smiles at them all encouragingly, some of them scrambling to smile back. It didn’t seem long ago that Jungkook had been in their position. Feeling like the world was so foreign, confused at his new lineage and the sword heavy in his hand. Gods, he had been so young.
“Let’s go over some basic maneuvers,” Jungkook says.
Jungkook had been doing this for so long that slipping into each new position feels like a choreographed dance. The eyes of the demigods seem to impossibly widen more as they loosely try to mimic him. He and Seokjin go around patiently correcting their postures, being free with their praise. Maybe… maybe they begin to feel at home here. That the world isn’t as scary as they think.
“Soon you’ll be able to hold your own against any monster or swordsman!” Jungkook says brightly at the end of class. He is rewarded with relieved smiles as they stop for a short break.
“Shall we give them a show?” Seokjin suggests, his eyes twinkling.
Jungkook is never one to back down from a challenge and he adopts his preferred stance immediately.
“Uh uh,” Seokjin says, approaching Jungkook with a bottle of iced water and dumps the entirety of its contents over his head. As the son of Poseidon, Jungkook can’t get wet but contact with water floods him with immense strength, his reflexes becoming honed and sharp.
“Oh, a real challenge,” Jungkook giggles. “Your loss, hyung.”
“Already so confident,” Seokjin laughs and the demigods gasp at the sword of solid black metal swinging from his hand.
With Jungkook’s enhanced strength, Seokjin’s arms strain slightly when he catches the first strike on his sword. Before Jungkook can take advantage of it, Seokjin pushes back against him, executing a series of slashes that Jungkook anticipates, slipping amongst them like water. Jungkook knows better than to lower his guard. Seokjin is his only match at camp and they’ve been training together for years. He steps backward, inviting Seokjin to step forward. He smiles when Seokjin faces him headon, parrying his blows and aiming for his legs. Seokjin is relentless and soon, Jungkook finds himself moving on pure instinct. Hardly comprehending strategies and merely reacting, single minded in his desire for victory. All he comprehends is Seokjin before him and his flickering sword. He could keep fighting until his body eroded away entirely making him an immensely formidable adversary.
Jungkook doesn’t entirely remember how they stop but he remembers leaning back against the fence, trying to catch his breath. Even with the sweat dripping down his face, Seokjin couldn’t be anything but beautiful. Seokjin shoots him an exhausted smile that still makes Jungkook’s heart race and he can’t help but lean over to press a little kiss to his cheek despite their promise to remain professional when teaching.
The demigods converge upon them overzealously, pleading for them to please, please, please show them how to perform that maneuver. Jungkook laughs. He remembers throwing down his sword in disgust, unwilling to practice the basics and wanting to learn the cool and real things he would need in a fight. Graciously, Jungkook demonstrates it all for them. Seeing that Jungkook had easily given in, Seokjin acquiesced to them too. As he watches Seokjin move, it strikes him that Seokjin has already gained all that he can from camp.
It’s time for him to move on.
They go back to the Poseidon cabin after their joint training session. The charm of sleeping in a coffin within the Hades cabin had quickly worn off when the two of them could hardly fit into one and they spent the next day riddled with intense body cramps. Another perk is that they also got to have the whole cabin for themselves.
Seokjin holds him close, gently threading his fingers through his hair. Jungkook presses his nose into Seokjin’s chest, trying to commit his scent to memory. In these moments, it’s when they’re truly able to relax. Where it doesn’t feel like the fate of the world is dictated by prophecy and can just exist as it’s always been intended to.
“Hyung?”
“Hmm?”
“You can leave if you want to,” Jungkook says softly.
Seokjin draws in a little breath. “Are you sure?”
“I’m being selfish for not wanting you to. You’ve learned all that you could here. You deserve to be part of the world.”
“I’ve been ready for awhile but I … I just wanted to make sure that you’d be okay,” Seokjin murmurs.
“I don’t think I’m quite ready yet. But I’ll be fine. I have everyone else to keep me busy. But when I am… can I join you?”
Seokjin smiles at him, the kind that always fills him with warmth and reassurance that everything would be okay. “Of course you can, silly.”
Jungkook is unable to hold back his own smile. “What’s life on the outside like?”
“Noisy. Frantic. Dangerous. But maybe it’ll be okay this time around. Maybe I can be normal. I don’t think I will be able to pass by any lake or beach without thinking of you,” Seokjin says in a serious tone.
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not! Each time I go to feed a duck, I’ll always have you at the forefront of my mind.”
“What else would you do?”
“Hmm, maybe watch a movie? Urgh, I don’t know if I can handle sitting still that long though.”
“What else?”
“Maybe I’ll bike ride along the Hangeng, with the wind in my hair and watch the street performances. I might even kayak even if I am terrible at it at camp.”
“What else will we do?” Jungkook asks, his eyes drooping.
Seokjin gently taps the tip of his nose, his eyes fond. “We’ll have our own place. Do you have any preferences? You’d like to live by the sea, right? Maybe we’ll get to wake up together like this and the first thing you reach for won’t be your sword. Maybe I’ll brew you coffee and it’ll take fifty times before you like it. Maybe we’ll get to be at peace.”
“I’d like that,” Jungkook sighs, reaching up to place a chaste kiss to Seokjin’s lips.
Jungkook rolls them both until his back is pressed against the bed, his legs falling open to accommodate Seokjin for their new position.
“Iris Message me twice a day.”
“I don’t think I’ll be doing that much.”
“Thrice a day.”
“Fine,” Seokjin says with a long suffering sigh, Jungkook’s smug look falters from his moan when Seokjin swoops down to nip at his collarbone, hands playing with the edge of his shirt. “But only because I love you.”
Jungkook gently holds Seokjin’s face in his hands, thumb caressing his cheekbone. “Love you, too. I will be with you soon. Until then, please take care of yourself.”
“Do you think the Fates will let me live?”
“They should,” Jungkook scoffs. “They wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for us.”
Seokjin rests his forehead atop of his and closes his eyes.
“You just wait, hyung. When I get out, we’re going to have double the Mist. No one, not even Apollo himself can find us. We’ll live long, uneventful lives that no hero got to have.”
“We’ll be happy,” Seokjin murmurs.
“Happy,” Jungkook repeats back firmly.
As much as Jungkook enjoys the thrill of battle, he doesn’t want to keep fighting. For once, he wants a life that’s his own and not to prolong the existence of the gods. And with Seokjin determined to set out into the brave new world again to restart his life again, Jungkook feels less uncertain. A quiet life, he likes the sound of that. For once, their dreams are of nothing but the pleasant future.