When Kyungsoo opened his eyes after finishing the last note, he was met with shocked faces. A smirk broke out over his lips.

“Wow,” Chen breathed out, “I know you said you could sing, but with that confidence I was expecting you to , to be honest.”

Chanyeol nodded, clearly impressed. “Yeah, me too, but whoa. You really proved us wrong. Like, I think he might actually be able to win or at least get honorable mentions.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help the cockiness that swelled up inside him and had to swallow the ‘I told you so’ that wanted to come bursting out. Instead he just shrugged and hopped off the stage.

“So,” Kyungsoo said after he flopped back down into his seat, “what kind of stuff do you guys do here?”

“Well, you know we just kind of do demi-god stuff.” Chen said, “Like train and learn about the gods, demons, underworlders, and how to protect ourselves basically. I have a more extensive realm of responsibility though, being the son of Dionysus.”

Chanyeol nodded along with him. “So what did you do, living in LA? How was that like?”

Kyungsoo shrugged. “It was normal mostly, but I really liked my life. It was comfortable. I went to school, had human friends, I would go shopping at the mall and I could cook my own food, and I could go home any time I wanted.”

“Go home, as in going to the Underworld?” Chanyeol spoke tentatively, almost as though he was unsure if he was allowed to ask the question. It was something that both the boys wondered about. They had always heard of the Underworld being a horrible place and they couldn’t imagine a child being raised in such conditions.

Kyungsoo rested his head against his hand. “So I guess you’re curious about how I grew up in such a place?” he smiled, “It really isn’t as bad as you people make it out to seem. I mean, have any of you even been to the Underworld?” They shook their heads ‘no’. “Well, its not like I played out in the dead or anything; I mostly stayed inside the palace. I had pets and skeletons to play with and the palace is huge, so I never really got bored. My father would always make time for me too and we’d play tons of games. He also used to take me up to the human world to go see places like the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, Big Ben, and all the other world attractions. He also bought me whatever I wanted, and I guess I might be a bit spoiled as a result.”

Chen and Chanyeol’s eyebrows lifted up at the ‘a bit’. They hadn’t known Kyungsoo long, but ‘spoiled brat’ oozed off of him. And no wonder, it seemed as though Hades had given the boy anything and everything he could ever wish for and probably more. The two doubted that Kyungsoo would even recognize the word ‘no’.

“So you’ve been living in between the human world and Underworld your whole life?” Chen asked.

Kyungsoo nodded. “Yep! It’s the best of both worlds for me.” He resisted the urge to start singing Hannah Montana. It was a dark time in his life. “But now I’m here and I get neither.”

Chanyeol frowned at Kyungsoo’s pouting. “Hey now, its not so bad here. I mean I’ve been a camper for a while and this place is practically my home.”

Chen raised his hand. “This place is my home, actually I was raised here. My mom decided that she didn’t want me and since my dad is stuck here she came and dropped me off one day. But I was mostly raised by the campers and satyrs.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t mean to insult this place, it’s just that I don’t belong here and it definitely shows.”

Chen nodded. “Yeah, I get that. But while you’re here you might as well make the most of it. Let us show you around and we can help you train and stuff. There’s a capture the flag battle coming up in a few days, maybe you can join.”

The first thing Kyungsoo noticed about the training ground was all the dirt. The second thing he noticed was an incredibly toned back, tanned and glistening in the sun. He stopped walking and stared at the sight as two campers sparred with swords, causing Chanyeol to bump into him. Except he didn’t notice Chanyeol bumping into him, he was way to busy staring at Kai.

Kyungsoo could definitely tell the blood of a god ran in that boy’s veins. He had no idea why Kai wasn’t wearing a shirt, but he really didn’t care because when his arms lifted and swung his sword, you could see all the muscles moving to make it a powerful strike. And damn was it beautiful.

At this point Chen and Chanyeol were staring at Kyungsoo staring at Kai. They wondered briefly if they should wake him form his trance, on the account that there was drool starting to pool up and dribble out the corner of his mouth. Chen slowly stretched his hand out in front of Kyungsoo’s face. No response. It seemed that now Kyungsoo’s thoughts had moved on to daydreaming. Chanyeol tried to snap his fingers in front of Kyungsoo’s nose, but just as he went to do so, black Shadows began to darken the area around the demi-god.

Chanyeol pulled back his fingers, slightly worried. “Um, what do we do now? He’s emitting some kind of…stuff.”

Chen circled and inspected Kyungsoo, finger to chin. “Hmmmm, maybe just shake his shoulder a bit.”

Chen looked on expectantly to Chanyeol who frowned. “Why do I have to do it? What if what happened to Sehun, happens to me?”

“Sehun wasn’t hurt too bad. Ew! Hurry up he’s drooling!” Chen pushed Chanyeol towards the entranced boy.

Chanyeol closed his eyes, hoped for the best, and quickly shook Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “Snap out of it, you’re drooling!”

This time Kyungsoo’s eyes caught focus and he whipped around to face them, wiping the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, I’m fine; I’m cool.”

The two squinted at him. “So… Kai, huh?” Chen said.

Kyungsoo looked up, over, and started walking. “Huh? Who?”

Chanyeol and Chen follow him with amused faces. Chen continued speaking. “Kai, you know, tan, black hair, yelled at you this morning, guy you were staring at a few moments ago that you actually started drooling over. That guy.”

The small male just shrugged his small shoulders and continued to walk like he knew where he was going.

Chanyeol smirked. “You know, I thought that you would hate him like you do Sehun, because of this morning.”

Kyungsoo stopped and pursed his lips. He figured he was pretty much caught, but his pride wouldn’t give in so easily.  “He just doesn’t seem as much of a douche as Sehun. That’s all.”

“Aaaaah,” Chen said in mock understanding, “that’s all. Well, you’d be right about that, but honestly Sehun isn’t all that bad either. They just have some skewed views, which is understandable since that’s what they’ve been taught since they were young.”

Kyungsoo just hummed and kept briskly walking, not wanting to continue on the subject.

The trio arrived at a weapons table where Kyungsoo stopped to play. He giddily picked up a sword only to have it crash to the ground. He pouted. “What the hell? Why’s it so heavy?” Kyungsoo attempted to pick it up while Chen and Chanyeol stood back laughing. After some struggling and shooing away the Shadows (he was a man, dammit) he let out a frustrated cry and let his arms sag.

Chanyeol wiped away nonexistent tears of laughter. “Kyungsoo, just let it go.”

“Seriously, you’re going to hurt yourself” Chen said with a smirk. Kyungsoo looked really adorable struggling with the heavy sword, lips all pouty and cheeks puffed out in concentration. It was ridiculous considering the sword was about the same size as Kyungsoo.

“Nooo,” Kyungsoo whined, “I want to pick it up.” He tried again and only succeeded in dragging the huge sword around in the dirt. Kyungsoo, filled with concentration, crouched and began to lift the sword. Chanyeol and Chen started clapping and cheering him on even though the sword was only a few centimeters off the ground. It was about an inch and a half off the ground when Kyungsoo’s arm’s wobbled and he dropped the sword down, stumbling backwards. His back hit something solid and arms came around him to take the sword out of his hands.

“What do you think you’re doing with my sword?”

Kyungsoo froze and looked to Chen and Chanyeol, but they were still laughing or rather trying to hold back their laughter. Kyungsoo scowled and his face tinged red. It was fun when it was the three of them, but the fact that he made himself look stupid and weak in front of someone obviously stronger than him turned things sour. At least for him.

“U-um,” Kyungsoo stood up straight and turned to look at what was probably a giant. “I was trying to pick it up?” he tried. Honestly, the guy in front of him was scary. He was tall (Kyungsoo came up to his chest), muscular, had broad shoulders and a square jaw. His black hair was cropped close to his head and he had light stubble creating a shadow on his dark skin.

The guy wore a scowl (a real one, not like the one Kyungsoo does) and raised an eyebrow. “You were trying to pick it up?” The corner of his lips twitched.

Kyungsoo was mortified. He felt like a kid getting scolded by their parents for trying to do something only big kids do. He puffed his cheeks and locked gazes with the ground. He really wanted to sass the guy for making him feel small, but Kyungsoo wasn’t stupid. He knew how to pick his battles and frankly that guy could pummel him into the ground within seconds.

A hearty laughter startled Kyungsoo. He snapped his eyes up to see the guy with his head thrown back, emitting the laughter. Kyungsoo was surprised to see that the guy’s smile was completely earnest and warm. It made the whole terrifying demeanor melt away, but then Kyungsoo realized that the guy was laughing at him and began to get upset. Sure he was weak, but that’s no reason to be mean and laugh in his face.

The guy seemed to notice Kyungsoo shift in mood and stopped laughing. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you.” Kyungsoo arched an eyebrow, “Okay, I’m sort of laughing at you, but it’s just, you looked completely adorable just now.”

Kyungsoo’s frown deepened. Adorable? He wasn’t adorable; he was the son of Hades! “I am not adorable!” He crossed his arms defiantly.

This time Chen was the one to out right laugh. “Are you serious? You’re nothing but cute, Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol nodded along enthusiastically.

Kyungsoo’s arms uncrossed in favor of resting on his hips. “I am not!!” He stomped his foot on the ground in a totally manly way to emphasize just how cute he was not.

Kyungsoo felt a hand come down and ruffle his hair. “Yeah okay, whatever you say, shorty.” The giant smirked at Kyungsoo’s dropped mouth, because that was just rude.

He reached up and fixed his hair. “You! You-! How dare you!”

“My name’s Azarai.” The giant stuck out his hand (approximately he size of Kyungsoo’s head) as he introduced himself.

Kyungsoo pursed his lips not exactly wanting to be friendly with the offensive guy, but decided that he was better as a friend than an enemy. “Kyungsoo.” He said shaking Azarai’s hand.

Azarai smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Kyungsoo.”

“I know.” Kyungsoo gave his billion-dollar smile.

Azarai only chuckled and then looked to Chen and Chanyeol. “You three want to spar with me? I’ve been trying to find someone, but everyone seems to be busy.”

The two of them looked taken back, but quickly recovered. “Uh, I don’t know man. The three of us aren’t exactly warriors.” Chen said.

“Oh come on, I’ll go easy. Besides you two never train; I’ll teach you guys. It’ll be good practice for you, and I want to see what the little one can do.” Azarai said.

“Fine.” Kyungsoo spoke up. It didn’t matter to him since the Shadows always protected him. Maybe that was the reason he was weak, but again it didn’t really matter.

Chen and Chanyeol looked worried. “Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol held unspoken words in his eyes, “are you sure this is a good idea? I mean after… you know.”

Kyungsoo waved him off. “I’ll be fine. Got everything under control. That was only because I was already irritated. This is just for fun, right?” He looked up a Azarai who nodded.

Finally the two agreed to spare but weren’t very happy about it. Chen went first, holding up his own pretty well and Kyungsoo wondered why he was so against it. Chen seemed like the type of person who just didn’t want to be bothered by anything, even if they were good at it. Chanyeol went next and wasn’t as strong, but he was quick. What was really amazing was that he didn’t trip over his long limbs and actually had a firm control over them. Kyungsoo sat back awed by how his friend’s usual joking demeanor was replaced with a hard expression and absolute concentration.

Of course Azarai was better, having all of the advantages, but sparing with Chen and Chanyeol proved to be a good workout. They were all taking turns so when Kyungsoo’s turn came, he went a bit reluctantly. He was the only one out of them who couldn’t use a sword. He was never taught and even though he technically didn’t need to be, it was embarrassing to not know something as simple as that, like the other campers.

“Come on, newbie. Let’s see what you got.” Azarai called out to him. “Here, I think this’ll suit you fine.” He held out a considerably smaller sword towards Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo was used to only ever using Shadow weapons and while he could have just used a Shadow sword, he wanted to know what it was like to use an actual one. “Um, I’ve never used a real sword before…” he said as he took the sword from Azarai. It was still pretty heavy, although Kyungsoo could actually hold it up. The weight felt foreign and he held the hilt stiffly with two hands.

“Wait? Never?” Azarai was surprised, even though he shouldn’t have been. He had trained with swords and other weapons, even while living in the human world. He’d often forget that learning how to use a sword was not in everyone’s childhood.

“What do you mean a real sword?” Chanyeol asked, “Did you use fake swords?”

“Well, I usually use…this.” Kyungsoo released one hand’s hold on the sword and opened his palm. In a matter of seconds, a black sword appeared in his hand whisping lightly.

“Whoa!” The three chorused and stood back in shock.

“That’s so cool!” Chanyeol exclaimed and reached to touch the sword. When his fingers brushed the blade it dissipated, crumbling back into Kyungsoo’s palm. “How does that even work?”

Kyungsoo shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

“You never asked?” Chen asked.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Of course I’ve asked about it, but no one really knows how it works.”

“So you’ve practiced with that before, but not a real sword?” Azarai asked.

Kyungsoo nodded. “I used to practice with the downworlders and on occasion, my father, but that’s it.”

Chen eyed Kyungsoo’s hand. “Do you think it works with real swords?”

Kyungsoo shrugged again. “I don’t see why not, but I kind of wanted to learn how to use a real sword.” He still held the sword in one hand, its blade drooping to the ground.

A giant smile stretched over Azarai’s face. He was absolutely ecstatic that he would get the chance to teach someone how to use a sword. Most of the campers had been there since young, so there weren’t too many opportunities to actually teach sword fighting. “Well, I think we can manage that. First thing first, you need to know how to hold the sword properly. Here, let me show you.” Azarai stepped up beside Kyungsoo and held out his sword with two hands. “Alright so first you need to grip it like this, and put you hands here, but don’t grip it too tight. You don’t want stiff hands.”

Kyungsoo nodded and followed Azarai’s instruction, but somehow he came out looking incredibly awkward. Chen and Chanyeol snickered on the sidelines and Kyungsoo shot them a glare. “Don’t laugh at me! This is totally different. Its too heavy!”

“Actually I think you’re holding it wrong.” Azarai moved to behind Kyungsoo and pushed his hands down on Kyungsoo’s shoulders. “Bend your knees a bit and hold the sword at your waist line. You need to proportion out so that all the weight isn’t relying on your arms.” He stepped back to Kyungsoo’s side and fixed his position, guiding Kyungsoo’s arms and fixing the placement of his hands.

Despite his appearance, Azarai was very gentle and patient when it came to teaching. He started Kyungsoo out with the basics and had Chen and Chanyeol join in on the exercises too. Azarai insisted that having friends participate would help Kyungsoo learn better. The four of them practiced for a good bit before taking a break. They decided to cool off before lunch was served and went to the on campus snack bar near the lake. In contrary to its name, the snack bar did not serve snacks, or at least not the kind of snacks Kyungsoo knew. The place was stocked full of various organic bars, vegetables, fruit, various types of nuts, something that resembled grass, leaves, and weeds, and what was probably tree bark.

“This is a shack of lies.” Was the first thing that came out of Kyungsoo’s mouth.

“Hey now, its not so bad. There’s fruit.” Chanyeol defended the snack shack with little rigor.

Honestly, Kyungsoo would kill for a chocolate bar. There were some back at his cabin, but he decided not to mention it. Kyungsoo really hated sharing.

“What can I get for you?” A satyr happily bleated out to them. He was wearing circle, orange tinted glasses with the awful camp T-shirt and had a braided goatee. Sandy blond curls fell all over the place on top of his head and it reminded Kyungsoo of ramen noodles.

“Uh,” Kyungsoo looked over the options, “some water and…um…”

“I’d recommend the mango fruit bar, its pretty delicious. That is, if you like mangos.” Azarai spoke up to save Kyungsoo. He found it adorable that Kyungsoo seemed so out of place in front of an organic food stand.

Kyungsoo smiled. “Yeah, that actually sounds really good!”

Chanyeol and Chen stepped back to get a better reading on the situation. They’d known Azarai for a while and even though they weren’t particularly close, they could definitely recognize the look Azarai held on his face. It was the look he had when he was about to make a successful strike that would be the final blow. It was a look that he had when he knew that he was going to get what he wanted. In most cases, what Azarai wanted was to strike down his opponent. The problem was that Azarai was looking at Kyungsoo.

“What do you think?” Chen whispered to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol brought his hand up to rub thoughtfully on his chin. “Hmmm. This is definitely an interesting situation, but I don’t think we have enough evidence or material to come up with a proper conclusion yet.”

Chen crossed his arms and stared intensely at Kyungsoo and Azarai. Kyungsoo was small, coming up to about Azarai’s shoulder, more on the petit side (not muscular), and pale. Like really pale, especially standing next to Azarai whose skin was more of a deep brown. “They’re complete opposites.”

“Nice observation. I was thinking the same thing.” Chanyeol said.

“Hey! Azarai!”

Chanyeol’s heart stopped in that exact moment. He was frozen on the spot as soon as he heard that sweet honey voice. Chen always said that it sounded more like 85-year-old chain-smoker coughing, but Chanyeol just suspected that he was jealous.

Azarai turned to the familiar voice, “Hey Baekhyun, What’s up?” and slung an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders.

“Ugh,” Baekhyun pushed the arm off, “its way too hot for that right now. I just finished my mandatory workout routine.”

Azarai laughed and patted Baekhyun’s head. “Well, it’ll get easier with time.”

Baekhyun scoffed. “Yeah, sure, but in the meantime I’m dying and in need of something sweet and delicious and nutritious. Something like a giant tropical smoothie.”

“Um,” the satyr behind the counter cleared his throat, “well, number one: you just skipped like four people, and number two: did you forget that your credit was cut off?”

Baekhyun gasped like someone just accused him of murder. “Well, I never!” the satyr rolled his eyes and wondered what kind of bull was about to come out of the boy’s mouth. “I would never skip ahead of people, I was just simply preparing my order and besides that I was standing next to the line of people, so technically I wasn’t skipping because I wasn’t even in line.”

“Aaah, right, of course.” The satyr said. “And?”

Baekhyun shifted his eyes and put a hand on his hip. “Aaaaaaaaand….” The satyr raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure what you mean by “cut off”.” He made air quotes with his fingers.

“Well, if you need me to refresh your memory, there was a certain accident that happened in this very snack shack involving you and Hoodie Boy.”

Azarai looked surprised. “Hoodie Boy?” he questioned.

Baekhyun laughed nervously. “Hah, aah it seems to be coming back to me now… Well, I should be going…” With that, Baekhyun dashed off before Azarai could get a hold of and interrogate him.

“That guy…” Azarai sighed, “He’s always getting in trouble.”

Once everybody ordered, the group found a resting area to relax in. They sat down in silence while everyone inhaled their snack, everyone but Chanyeol.

Chen crushed an empty water bottle with his hand, sat back, and grinned. “Hey, Chanyeol, why aren’t you drinking your tropical smoothie. I heard it’s pretty delicious.”

Chanyeol jumped at his name and then glared at Chen, protectively wrapping his arms around the smoothie. “I just, j-just want to save it for later.”

By that time, Kyungsoo and Azarai’s attention had been stirred. “Won’t it melt and get nasty?” Kyungsoo asked.

“U-um well you see I was mmdnhdmnh…” Chanyeol curled into himself (somehow, probably magic) with each word until his voice was so muffled that no one could understand him.

Kyungsoo smiled. It was the first time he’d seen that side of Chanyeol, the awkward, flustered Chanyeol. Then realization slid in with a grin. “Hey, isn’t that the smoothie that Baekhyun wanted?”

Impossibly, Chanyeol balled himself in tighter. Maybe, he thought, he could become so small that he would just disappear. “No. I don’t know.” He said but no one was able to understand it through his personal armor.

Azarai smiled with amusement. He honestly would have never guessed that Park Chanyeol, all around popular guy with lots of friends, was crushing so hard on Baekhyun. And most of all, that he’d be so embarrassingly awkward about it. It almost made Azarai feel bad for him. “You know, he’s probably cooling off by the pond.” Chanyeol peeked out from his fort. “if you want… you could,” Chanyeol retreated. “I mean, I could go give it to him.”

Chanyeol slowly uncurled and held out the smoothie, head hung low. Azarai couldn’t blame him for being so nervous and shy though. Baekhyun was a handful just to be friends with; he couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to have a crush on that mess of a person.

“Hey.” Azarai’s instincts were right and he found the problematic boy sulking by the pond.

Baekhyun looked up with sad eyes until he spotted the smoothie. “Did you get that for me?!” he lunged up to grab the tasty delight, but was pushed back with a palm to the forehead.

“No.” Baekhyun’s face fell, “I mean, yes its for you, but no, I didn’t buy it for you.” Azarai said.

 Baekhyun’s face lit up again, made a grab, and successfully captured the smoothie. “Well, then who did buy it for me? Ooo was it a secret admirer or maybe one of my fans?”

“Like that would make sense.” Azarai teased, but then realized that it was actually kind of true. “Anyways, it was Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun suddenly stopped slurping up his smoothie mid slurp, tried to speak, and choked. Once he regained himself, he took a breath properly, and asked, “Park Chanyeol?”

“Yeah, there aren’t too many Chanyeols running around here.” There was, in fact, no other camper named Chanyeol. “You seem surprised.” Azarai said.

“Well I mean, yeah I am. Like, we barely even talk to each other.”

Azarai winced internally for Chanyeol. Poor thing. “I mean, he probably just wanted to do something nice…for you. He saw how much you wanted the smoothie and then decided to get it for you.” It was hard trying to play that one off, but Azarai tried his best.

“Wait, you mean just earlier? He was there?!” Baekhyun panicked internally. He was so completely embarrassed that Chanyeol knew about his incident at the snack shack.

Azarai watched as Baekhyun’s face flushed ever so slightly. “Yeah, he was one of people you tried to skip.”

The pink staining his cheeks and ears, deepened in color. “Oh. Okay. Tell him I said ‘thank you’.” He refused to lift his head as he continued to down the smoothie.

Azarai stood. “Tell him yourself, I’ve got other things to get to.”

Azarai couldn’t imagine that Chanyeol could be more awkward, but he was wrong. As soon as the lanky boy caught sight of Baekhyun walking towards them, he froze, eyes wide. A million and one things flitted through his mind, none of them good. He could feel his anxiety rising with each step Baekhyun took. He thought that he was probably going to combust and boy, wouldn’t that be embarrassing. He would probably get gross chunks of gut all over Baekhyun and then his chances of wooing the boy would be completely gone. At least he’d be dead by that point and would only feel the embarrassment from the afterlife.

“Hey…” Baekhyun's voice broke through Chanyeol's internal panicking.

As if on autopilot, Chanyeol smiled, but couldn’t get any words out.

“Um, t-thanks for the smoothie. That was really nice of you…” Baekhyun awkwardly avoided eye contact and tried to keep up a confident front. It wasn’t really working because every time he’d look at Chanyeol, he could feel heat rising in his cheeks. Azarai stiffed a laugh, in all his years he’d never seen Byun Baekhyun look so shy. It was almost unreal, but he knew once the two got over the barrier, they would open right up with each other. 

Well its been like 40 years but I'm finally updating this fic. 

I've been on a sort of haitus for a little bit because of school. I'm like either super busy or super tired, so there hasn't been much writing going on, but I'm finally home for the weekend so I was determined to finish and post this chapter. 

Originally it was going to be longer but this seemed like a good place to stop at and yay for baekyeol! After this, a lot more exo members will be introduced because they're Baek's friends. 

Hmmm who could this msterious Hoodie Boy be????

I feel like it'll be pretty obvious tho

So Azarai is my OC, but he'll actually play a pretty big part in the story. The characters that I made for the other members didn't really fit the role I wanted, so I created my own character for it. I hope you like him because I like him a lot. He's a really sweet person :)