Title : Home
Prompt-# :147
For : Blingdom
Pairing : Jonghyun/Key, side pairing Minho/Taemin
Author : Anonymous until reveals
Word Count : 8,114 words
Rating : PG
Warnings : None
Summary : For the longest time, Camp Half Blood has never felt like home to Jonghyun like it did for the other demigods. Sometimes, change and risk-taking aren't as scary as they seem to be.
 

A/N: This story is set some time after the current running Percy Jackson/HoO/ToA books, and may contain minimal references to events that have happened in the books. 
 

Jonghyun hated camp games. He really, really did. He wished he could be on medic duty every single time, but it didn't work that way, and as he was falling out of the tree, he resigned himself to the fate of a twisted ankle and many, many scrapes.

See, Jonghyun was a son of Apollo. He was good at healing, singing and writing songs, but that isn't strange for a son of Apollo. He was definitely not good at archery, and that was the cause for him falling out of the tree. He had been trying to shoot the one closing in on their flag, but he hates fighting, he hates injuring people, and even if he had aimed to just let the arrow graze the other demigod's leg to slow him down, he missed. And it was just his luck that the one he tried to shoot was Lee Taemin, the son of Hades, and when Taemin had turned around he knew he was ed. If Taemin was there, Minho was somewhere near, and true to his prediction, Jonghyun turned and a lance was hurtling towards the branch beneath him, hitting and breaking said branch.

So he fell out of the tree.

"Really, one and a half years at camp, and you're still so bad at archery?" Taemin was standing over him, Jonghyun's team's flag draped over one arm, and Jonghyun let out a sigh as he sat up to take stock of his injuries. He really hated camp games.

"Taemin, let's go!" Minho shouts somewhere behind him, and Jonghyun smiles wryly.

"Don't let me keep you from victory," he muttered, turning his ankle gingerly and confirming that it is indeed, twisted.

A short song and a bit of running later, Jonghyun arrived at the river just in time to see Taemin crossing the boundary and planting the flag that Jonghyun had been defending.

A loud cheer resounds from the campers on Taemin's side, and Jonghyun turned to walk back to camp.

As Taemin said, Jonghyun has been at camp for one and a half years. He came to camp when he was sixteen, caught by one of the roaming satyrs that the camp sent out to find homeless and orphaned demigods, and he's been here ever since, as one of the few year-long campers. 

Camp wasn't that bad. It was safe, he always got good food, and the people, generally, were pretty nice. So he had nothing to complain about, compared to the hell that he found on the streets less than two years ago. But after all this time here, Camp Half-Blood was still not home, for reasons Jonghyun couldn't quite explain to himself, much less to others. So he kept all these thoughts to himself and sat in the shade while his bunkmates played basketball, shooting off perfect shots after perfect shots to impress giggling Aphrodite girls, and wrote his songs.

And he tries to convince himself that one day, Camp Half-Blood will be home for him, just like it is for many of the other campers.
 

Jonghyun turned up to swordfighting training the next day towards the end of the class hosting all the Hermes kids. He had been training with Minho for the past few months, 1-to-1 classes that did nothing to bolster his self-esteem but had definitely improved his skills. As the Hermes kids troop out, he set his bag and towel down on one of the benches and turned around to find Lee Taemin right in front of his face. 

"You train one on one with Minho?" Taemin was smiling and Jonghyun instinctively recoiled, turning back to dig through his bag for his blade. Minho had promised to keep it secret from Taemin, but now the kid found out and Jonghyun really, really wanted to run. 

"Taeminnie, what are you doing here?" Minho sounded just as surprised as Jonghyun was, and Jonghyun breathes a sigh of relief as he found his blade. Okay, so Minho hadn't told Taemin, which was marginally better, considering that would mean that all of Jonghyun's secrets would have come public.

Minho was a good friend, just horribly competitive in camp games and sometimes quite terrifying when he decides to use his aura and his Ares' blessings. Also, that he was whipped for Taemin.

"Key said he wanted to ask you a favor, for next week's camp games." Taemin turned around to greet his boyfriend with a wide smile. Jonghyun nearly tripped over his own sword at that, and at that moment he was very grateful that Taemin had not seen his slip. 

Key, alias for Kim Kibum, was another one of Jonghyun's problems. Scratch that, he was one of Jonghyun's biggest problems. He was the head counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin, and was blessed with incredibly good looks, the ability to charmspeak, and, to Jonghyun, an enviable talent with knives.

As the head counsellor of The Aphrodite cabin, he naturally had half the camp gravitating around him for advice with relationships of all sorts. With his immense popularity, he always managed to snag a position in the winning group for camp games, or built enough alliances for him to come in the top half of inter-cabin games. 

And Jonghyun had a huge, stupid crush on this almost legendary figure in camp. He didn't even know Key, hence the emphasis on how stupid his crush was. Key most definitely did not know about his existence, and even if he did, would probably dismiss him as a loser and weirdo. Taemin was his best friend, and the only things Taemin ever said to him mainly concerned his lack of archery skills. 

So if Taemin ever found out about Jonghyun's crush, he would definitely tell Key, and boom, Jonghyun would never be able to get close to Key, ever. Jonghyun still couldn't figure out how in the world a son of Hades and son of Aphrodite even managed to become best friends. 

"Tell him sure. And that the alliances I'm considering include the Apollo and Athena cabins. If Onew and Kangta are going to be on the same side, it'll have to be ours." Jonghyun stood awkwardly as the two talked about strategy and camp games, attention drifting back to the song he'd been writing before this session. 

"Alright, see you later, Taeminnie!" Minho patted Taemin's shoulder before turning his attention to Jonghyun, who snapped back into focus and nodded, unsheathing his sword.

Jonghyun's sword was a soft, elegant sword, hand-crafted by Chanyeol, one of the Hepheastus kids, in return for teaching him how to write songs on the guitar. It was more flexible than most swords, made with an alloy of celestial bronze and imperial gold (Jonghyun wasn't quite sure he wanted to know why Chanyeol would have imperial gold sitting in his forge). The two metals were explosive together, but Chanyeol had found some ratio and way to fold them together, apparently. So far, it had worked and Jonghyun wasn't dead yet. 

Taemin's eyes widened when he saw the sword and it took Jonghyun a few moments to process his words: "Where did you get that sword?"

Instinctively, Jonghyun sheathed his sword and held onto it tighter. He had been there, sitting with Chanyeol over the week that it had taken to craft the blade, and added elements of his own magic with his songs. It was his, and he didn't want anyone questioning it. 

"No one questioned where you got your sword," he replied curtly, tilting his head at Taemin's sword on his hip, a slim Stygian iron sword that was edged with silver and always glowed a faint silver-purple at night. While it was typical for children of Hades to carry Stygian iron swords, they usually weren't as intricate as Taemin's, neither did they involve silver, which was usually used by Artemis and her hunters.

Minho chose that moment to nudge Taemin out of the practice arena. "We have to train now, or I won't have time," the tall, muscular male grinned at the two of them and Taemin retreated to a corner of the arena. 

"I'll watch." There was nothing Minho could do to stop Taemin, frankly, so Jonghyun let it go and drew his sword again.

when Jonghyun first began training, he could barely hold up to Minho for five minutes. After two months of summer, he could spar for over half an hour before Minho managed to disarm him. As Jonghyun's sword skittered over the floor and out of his hand for the first time that session, he tried to ignore Taemin in the corner and re-focused his energy on his blade and on Minho. It was easy, after a while, to fall back into that rhythm, but Jonghyun remained self-conscious throughout the entire session and sheathed his sword immediately after it ended, picking up his bag and hurrying out of the arena. 

"Hey!" Praying that the voice behind him wasn't calling him, Jonghyun walked faster, almost running into Cabin Seven, and shutting the door behind him as quickly as possible. 

Being ridiculed by Taemin once a week during camp games was enough, two days straight is a bit too much in Jonghyun's book.
 

Jonghyun successfully avoided Taemin for a grand total of one day before Taemin caught him again after his session with Minho. The younger boy had been waiting for him at the door, and Jonghyun had to force down the mild panic rising in his throat when Taemin requested to talk to him.

"Do you want to join the offensive team for capture-the-flag this week?" Taemin cut straight to the point, brushing off Minho's hand and fixing his eyes on Jonghyun. 

"I'm no good at any position in camp games, except as a medic." Jonghyun pressed his lips into a wry smile, adjusting his bag strap on his shoulder as he tried to move past Taemin. Once again, he was blocked, and Taemin's eyes flashed darkly as he caught Jonghyun's arm.

"Go talk to Kangta about it, I'll accept whatever you put me in," Jonghyun conceded tiredly as he realized Taemin wasn't going to take no as an answer. Finally, Taemin let him leave, and Jonghyun didn't wait around to hear about whatever he and Minho were planning.
 

"Taemin singled you out to be a part of the offensive team." At dinner time, his head counsellor slid into the seat opposite him and opened conversation briskly. Jonghyun swallowed another mouthful of kimchi jiggae before fixing a smile onto his face and nodding at Kangta.

"I know you're training with Minho, is that why Taemin's putting you the offensive team?" Kangta was well-informed, as always, and Jonghyun shrugged in response.

"I don't know why Taemin chose me, honestly." He was too confident to be the jealous type, and Jonghyun's guess was only as good, if not worse than Kangta's. 

"Are you alright with it?" Kangta's gaze was warm, concerned, and Jonghyun's smile dropped as he picked at the kimchi in his soup. They both knew how much Jonghyun disliked harming and injuring people physically, and his lack of aggression was one of the major reasons why he always performed so badly in camp games.

"I'll do it if I'm assigned to it." He would have to do it sooner or later, Jonghyun supposed, and Taemin would certainly hound him for it.

"If not for this issue, I would step down and make you head counsellor," Kangta sighed as he resumed eating his dinner. Jonghyun blinked, taken aback by the sudden compliment, and Kangta smiled at the astonished younger boy. "Don't look so surprised. Ryeowookie is good as a second-in-command, but he's too physically weak for the position." 

"I haven't completed any quests." Which is better for me, Jonghyun added quietly in his head. Quests and heroics were better left to people like Minho and Taemin, who had the drive and desire to take them on. He just wanted to learn to defend himself from monsters, work in the background to heal others, and be left to his songwriting and music. 

Kangta sighed again, but he didn't push Jonghyun, quickly changing the topic to inquire about Jonghyun's songwriting. Jonghyun's projects were somewhat of a well-known secret to the Apollo cabin, since no one outside of the cabin knew about it, and Jonghyun very much preferred it that way.

He just wanted a peaceful existence, really.
 

Friday arrived with the fanfare of a nightmare. With his sword sheathed at his hip, Jonghyun stared at the tip of his boots as Minho and Taemin discussed last-minute plans with Onew and Kangta barely six feet away from him. His instructions had been simple: Keep up with Minho, and try not to die or get knocked out.

"Taemin, who's this?" Jonghyun's head snapped up instinctively when he heard that voice, even as the rest of his body froze. It was Key, in all his blonde, sharp-eyed, impeccably-dressed glory, twirling a knife between his fingers as he looked Jonghyun up and down. When it registered that Key had been asking for his name, he quickly moved a few steps back and away from the other boy, keeping his eyes on the tip of his boots and avoiding that sharp gaze.

"That's Jonghyun, he'll be paired with Minho for today. You and Taemin are the second offensive pair to go out," Onew responded distractedly, his eyes scanning over the trees on the other side of the river. Minho was laughing, the bastard; Jonghyun could see his shoulders shaking silently from behind. Some kind of friend.

"Nice to meet you, Jonghyun." Key smiled, a tiny upward curl of his lips, and Jonghyun smiled back, unable to help himself, and bowed his head.

"They're coming. C'mon, Jjong." Minho beckoned at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun kept one hand on the hilt of his sword as he followed Minho across the river. Minho's footsteps were incredibly light and fast, and Jonghyun had to hurry to keep up with the taller boy's long strides. He could feel eyes on him as they moved, but shook that off as he focused on keeping up with Minho. 

Without warning, Minho pushed Jonghyun behind a tree before hiding himself behind another. Jonghyun bit his lip as Minho put a finger to his lips, and peeked out slightly around the tree. Ahead of them, there was a sentry group patrolling, a group of Demeter Cabin's kids with vines curling around their arms and at their feet.

Minho held up three fingers and counted down silently. As his hand curled into a fist, Jonghyun and Minho jumped out from their hiding places and right into the middle of the group. From there, it was easy to see the traps that had been laid out in front of the group, covered by a layer of vines and grass. It was hard to not injure them, and Jonghyun winced every time the sheath of his sword connected with a camper. He avoided hitting them as much as possible, pushing them back into the traps around them. 

Moving in surprising tandem, the two of them broke past the first two layers of defenses. Jonghyun caught himself smiling when he and Minho met up with Key and Taemin, part amazed and part proud of himself for making it so far. Even Taemin's appraising gaze couldn't break his good mood, and as Minho slung an arm around him with a wide grin, Jonghyun said nothing about their obvious height difference, pumped by the adrenaline rush of battle.

"Let's move on, who knows how long our defenses will hold out." Onew tilted his head slightly, beaming, and together the five of them ran deeper into the forest. Luckily, there were no archers, and the flag was simply planted in a clearing. Still, Minho held out an arm to stop Jonghyun while he and Taemin stepped into the clearing. Two figures vaulted down from the trees- Max and Kyuhyun from the Hermes cabin, a scary pair of pranksters that no doubt had traps planted in the clearing. Wordlessly, the four drew their weapons and started fighting, just like that, leaving Jonghyun to stare at them open-mouthed among the trees.

"We're grabbing the flag," Key spoke low against Jonghyun's ear, and Jonghyun nearly jumped out of his skin. 

"There are traps!" Ignoring the fluttering feeling in his stomach, Jonghyun jabbed a hand at the fighting pairs, and Key shrugged. 

"So? We have to get it." Without waiting for Jonghyun, Key jumped into the clearing and made a mad dash for the flag. Cursing in his head, Jonghyun scaled a tree and jumped down, tucking and rolling straight over the fighting pairs. He right next to the flag, pulling out of the ground with ease and making a run for the treeline. Looking back, he saw Key disengage from the fight, sprinting over to join him.

Unfortunately, just as Jonghyun predicted, the pair of Hermes children had set traps around the perimeter of the clearing. He heard the springing for the classic net trap before he saw it, and just barely dodged it. Key tripped over a few well-placed branches and went down in a bout of colourful swearing, causing Jonghyun to skid to a halt and run back to help him up.

"I think I twisted my ankle," Key muttered, gritting his teeth as he tested his weight on his right ankle. Moving on instinct, Jonghyun knelt down and handed the flag to Key, singing softly under his voice to heal Key's ankle, as well as all the other scrapes on his hands and leg. It was a simple injury to heal, but Jonghyun's cheeks flamed once he looked up to see Key looking down at him. Get a grip on yourself, we're in the middle of camp games! Jonghyun pushed himself back, stumbling to get up again. Without another word, the two of them sprinted down to the river, and Key crossed the boundary just as Leeteuk, the head counselor of Hermes appeared on their side of the river. In Key's hands, the flag glittered and changed into a symbol of Doves, representing the Aphrodite cabin.

Immediately, Key was swept up by the other Aphrodite kids, and Jonghyun stepped back to watch from afar, lips twitching up into a smile.

"It's been a long time since the Aphrodite Cabin won the camp games." Jonghyun turned to see Onew standing next to him, staring at the riverbank with unblinking eyes.

"When did you get here?"

"I ran here, a bit behind you and Key." Onew offered Jonghyun a wide smile, and Jonghyun smiled in response quite helplessly; their cabins weren't close and had barely fought alongside each other. 

For the first time, Jonghyun decided that camp games might not be that bad after all.
 

Jonghyun should have foreseen that this would be the end to his aspirations for a simple, peaceful camp life.

He woke up on Saturday morning, puzzled over the absence of prophetic dreams that were typical of his nights. When Chiron called him up to the Big House, he ignored the faint stirring in his gut and went as told. Key was waiting when he got there, standing next to Chiron, still looking perfect at 8am in the morning. Having only gotten four hours of sleep, Jonghyun blinked away his tiredness and greeted both of them politely.

"We've just gotten news from a satyr who's been following another child of Apollo around. He's gotten injured, and we need to go pick up both the satyr and the demigod." Chiron wasted no time once Jonghyun and Key had been seated and served breakfast. The centaur continued pacing up and down the porch, eyes fixed on Jonghyun and Key. "Usually, Key is in charge of these retrieval missions, because he can persuade the child to come here, it's slightly more dangerous than usual, so he needs someone else to go with him."

And what better way to persuade a child of Apollo to come to camp than to have another son of Apollo convince him? Jonghyun could see the logic in that, but still, there was one thing Jonghyun didn't understand. "Why me?" There were so many other people in his cabin, why him of all people?

"I asked for it." Key's gaze was unreadable, and Jonghyun found himself focusing on his scrambled eggs instead of on those dark eyes. 

The table fell silent as Jonghyun steadfastly avoided Key's gaze, and the son of Aphrodite seemed to have nothing more to say. Chiron's sigh was audible as he patted Jonghyun's shoulder. "I take it as this is settled, the two of you will leave after breakfast then. It should be a short trip." 

As the centuar clopped away, Jonghyun risked a glance up at Key; the other boy was buttering his toast leisurely, but his movements held an air of delicacy and elegance that had Jonghyun suddenly ashamed of the way he had stuffed an entire croissant into his mouth.

Still, there was nothing else to say, and within the hour Jonghyun was standing next to the tree with the Golden Fleece, waiting for the son of Aphrodite. He had packed light, a set of clothes, medic kit, two boxes of strepsils (just in case), his notebook, pen and a water bottle. It would have been nice to bring a ukelele, Jonghyun reflected, but he should be back soon anyway. The camp's security guard/driver Argus was as silent as usual, nodding at Jonghyun from the driver's seat of the van.

"Let's go, then." Turning around, Jonghyun found Key just climbing over the crest of the hill. Somehow, even in the bright orange camp tee, jeans and leather boots, Key still looked like he had just gotten off the runway, and Jonghyun caught himself staring before turning away with a lump in his throat. Right. Feelings.

Key pulled out his phone the moment they left the camp's protected borders in Argus' van, switching on the device as Jonghyun sat silently beside him. "We're going to New York. The boy goes by Chen. Apparently, he's doing quite well in school, and lives with his mom." Key passed his phone to Jonghyun, summarizing it for him quickly, and Jonghyun scrolled through the messages. The contact's name was listed as Lee Kwangsoo, and Jonghyun's mind flashed to this ridiculously tall young man with curly brown hair playing pipes to grow plants, before tripping over the vines that he had grown.

The van slid to a halt just before the awkwardness became too unbearable for Jonghyun. The two of them slid out of the van and Argus gave them a blinking goodbye wave before the van left.

It'd been a while since Jonghyun left camp, and he couldn't help but look around at bustling New York with equal parts wonder and fear. So many people, and among them, so many monsters that might or might not be worse than those in camp. Still, he kept up with Key's brisk steps into the Manhattan subway, looking all around him cautiously. He kept it up until Key elbowed him: "Stop doing that. Normal New Yorkers don't look around in the subway so much," Key hissed, keeping his eyes down on his phone. He had pulled on a hoodie and put up the hood, making it hard to see his face. Frowning, Jonghyun pulled out his notebook and did as instructed, shifting his focus into writing lyrics distractedly. He didn't get much headway, what with Key next to him and the thought of all possible threats. Soon enough, they got off the train and up to street level, with Key leading the way.

"We're just in time." Key held up a hand, stopping Jonghyun abruptly, and pointed at the school across the street. As though on cue, the school bell rang, and students started pouring out from the school gates. "He has brown hair, kind of messy, falling over his eyes, and a cat-like smile, according to Kwangsoo." It took Jonghyun a moment to understand that Key meant the Apollo kid, and he nodded just as he spotted a young man almost a full head taller than the rest of the crowd. "That's Kwangsoo, isn't it?"

"Isn't he injured?'' Key looked over, following Jonghyun's gaze, his eyebrows furrowing when he saw the satyr. "Let's go and talk to him."

Before Jonghyun could say a word, Key had already slipped into the crowd, blending in seamlessly, and he had no choice but to follow. The crowd seemed to part for Key, but Jonghyun had to follow closely to avoid being swept away among the other teens.

Kwangsoo was in deep conversation with a younger boy when they managed to reach him. Messy brown hair, check, cat-like smile, check. 

"Hello, Kwangsoo, Chen?" Key had no qualms about breaking up the conversation and putting charmspeak into his words, and for a moment Jonghyun was dazed by the magnetism of Key's words despite him issuing no command.

"That's me." The boy smiled at them cheerfully, his hands deep in his jacket pockets, while Kwangsoo's mouth hung open at their sudden appearance. "Kwangsoo's already told me about camp, but I have some things I have to do before I go, if you don't mind?" Strangely enough, he barely seemed affected by Key's charmspeak, which concerned Jonghyun. He could also sense that Kwangsoo had been healed by some of Apollo's magic, which could only have been done by Chen, but that made no sense whatsoever if Chen had never been to camp or learned how to control his powers.

"We'll go with you to finish whatever you need, then." Key nodded, and Chen's smile widened, if possible. Without giving Kwangsoo or Jonghyun a chance to say anything, the unclaimed son of Apollo and Key walked ahead out of the school gates.

"I'm Key, and he's Jonghyun." Key introduced them as they walked down the main street, and Chen nodded thoughtfully. 

"I need to say goodbye to my vocal teacher," Chen explained as they took a right into a quiet suburban area. "Kwangsoo told my mom about camp already, so it's just her left." So this was the white picket fence suburban area of New York, Jonghyun mused as they walked down the street. Manicured lawns and identical houses lined both sides of the road, differentiated only by the cars parked in front of the houses. He wouldn't be able to tell one apart from the other at first glance.

Chen stopped to push open the gate of house number 23. There was nothing abnormal about it, but Kwangsoo's eyes were wide when they entered the front yard, shaking his head furiously at Jonghyun. Chen rang the doorbell as Key looked around the porch, ignoring Kwangsoo's alarmed expression. 

The door was opened by a petite girl, barely older than Chen. She was beautiful, wide eyes, porcelain skin and cherry lips, and Jonghyun took a few seconds to process the fact that she was a living being, not a doll.

"I'm going now, Miss IU!" Chen was too cheerful for the unease growing at the pit of Jonghyun's stomach.

"Oh, so soon?" Her voice was melodic, frighteningly so and as potent as Key's charmspeak. Voices in Jonghyun's head were screaming at him to stay, and Kwangsoo was already moving forward to cross the porch. Forcing the voices down, Jonghyun pulled Kwangsoo back to see Key stepping up the steps, as though in a trance.

"Unfortunately. Thanks for teaching me so far!" The only one unaffected was Chen, who was still smiling at the girl, not doing anything to stop Key. Holding out a hand to stop Kwangsoo, Jonghyun reached out and grabbed Key's hand, pulling him back as well. The touch would be thrilling if the situation wasn't so dire, Jonghyun thought as Key turned glazed eyes to him.

"It was my pleasure. Won't you and your friends come in and sit down? I have something to give to you, and it might take a while." Her voice had grown even more magnetic and before Jonghyun knew it, Key and Kwangsoo had entered the house, leaving him on the porch with the girl staring down at him.

"You're a child of Apollo as well?" IU looked down at Jonghyun with a smile. 

"How..." Jonghyun could only blink up at her, eyes widening. She smiled mysteriously in response and turned to enter the house. For the second time that day, Jonghyun found himself with no choice but to follow.
 

"IU is a siren, or so she told me," Chen whispered to Jonghyun once he sat down on the couch. The girl had gone deeper into the house to get Chen's present, supposedly, leaving the three demigods and satyr on her couch. It was only then that Key snapped back to attention, though Kwangsoo remained in a trance-like state.

This complicated things greatly, especially since they were now in her house with no way out. Jonghyun let out a sigh with the realization that this changed the quest significantly. 

"She's been teaching me how to sing and use my powers for the past year, in exchange for me lending her some of my powers of prophecy and healing to help her avoid the people hunting her down." Chen tilted his head slightly. "Why do all of you look so alarmed?"

"We are in a siren's house." Jonghyun leaned back in his seat and stared intently at his half-brother. "Sirens lured sailors to their death, remember?" For the first time since he'd known Key, the son of Aphrodite seemed to have lost his voice, and Jonghyun tried to calm the fear and anger roiling in his stomach.

"IU's generally quite harmless..." Chen looked at the hallway leading into the house, and Jonghyun bit his lip, not quite knowing how to break to him that sirens were rumoured to be seductive, cannibalistic monsters. "She believes in trading. If you offer her something good, she'll give you something in return." An idea sprung into Jonghyun's head almost immediately, and he withdrew his notebook from his bag.

At this point, IU came down back down the hallway, holding a music box in one hand. She passed the music box to Chen, a small smile playing on her lips: "You mentioned you wanted this a few weeks back... Take it. Thank you for your help so far."

"For the other three of you... Chen's prophetic dreams told him that one of you would have what I need." She looked expectantly at Jonghyun, who swallowed and opened his notebook. 

"Chen mentioned you were trying to avoid people who are hunting you. I wrote a song... maybe you can do it, since you're a siren, but you can manipulate the Mist more strongly to achieve the appearance you really want. You can be whatever you want." Jonghyun looked down at the song that he had written just yesterday night and exhaled slowly, trying to focus on anything but the siren's unblinking dark eyes.

Leaning back in her chair, IU smiled gently, looking almost relieved. "Chen was right. People are hunting me for my singing abilities. That will be... beyond helpful. What do you want in return? A bow? Children of Apollo are always looking for those." 

Apollo help his archery skills, Jonghyun thought, and shook his head. "If you have a magical instrument, that would be good." 

"I have a carry-on keyboard that has a smaller form!" Looking like an excited child, IU ran back into her house, and Jonghyun exhaled slowly, leaning his head back on his chair and closing his eyes. When he opened his eyes, Key was staring at him with what looked like wonder in his eyes, though he turned his head away immediately. 

Soon enough, IU returned with a ruler with a piano print. Placing the ruler on the table, she tapped the middle C key on the ruler thrice. The ruler expanded into a carry-on keyboard on the table and she beamed at Jonghyun. Fighting down the urge to call her cute, Jonghyun tore the pages down from his notebook, passing it over to her with a small smile. She received the sheets with a sense of reverence, looking through the score with an approving smile. 

"Thank you so much! Oh yes, to keep the piano, you just shut the lid." The petite siren closed the keyboard lid in demonstration, and the instrument shrunk back into ruler form. She passed it to Jonghyun, who slotted it into his notebook and kept the notebook back into his bag. 

"I owe you a debt, Jonghyun son of Apollo." She curtsied prettily at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun could only smile and thank her as he bowed in return. Chen hugged her, smiling brightly, and she skipped to the front door to let them leave. Key was silent as they walked back down the street, typing furiously on his phone, while Kwangsoo trailed behind them. 

"Thank you for getting us out of that." It was only when Argus came to pick them all up that Key murmured to Jonghyun, low and soft enough only for him to hear it. He was looking at Jonghyun with newfound respect now, and Jonghyun's cheeks flamed, smiling wide enough for his cheeks to hurt and he nodded at Key.
 

After Chiron heard the story, Jonghyun and Key continued to be paired for retrieval missions. This suited Jonghyun just fine; he didn't have to fight (much) on these quests, yet could still travel out of camp (a luxury not many other demigods could afford). And he could still write his songs and keep to himself when he was in camp. The only difference now was that he had new friends in the form of Key, Taemin and Onew, who would often drop by in his sparring sessions with Minho to watch him and sometimes participate. Turns out, Onew was a great confidant and Key was a lot more lethal than his parentage suggested.

"I always thought that quests would change a lot of things," he admitted to Onew one day while they watched Taemin and Minho sparring. Key was busy that day with housekeeping matters for his cabin, and the four of them had gone through a day of rock-climbing on the lava wall and training without him. 

"Change what?" Onew's voice was soft and warm as he tilted his head slightly at Jonghyun.

"People would become arrogant after coming back from them. Or be sad, because they lost friends and important people in quests. But all that I've been doing so far hasn't put me in either of those categories, I hope," Jonghyun added hastily.

"I think you've become more confident in knowing who you are and your abilities, which isn't bad at all." Onew smiled, stormy gray eyes brightening as he turned his full attention on Jonghyun. "And you've gotten closer to Key. You like him, don't you?" 

Trust a son of Athena to be able to see right through him. Jonghyun deflated slightly, not even bothering to lie and defend himself from Onew's words.

"That's not really the point, though. I could say camp life has been even better for me now, after taking on these quests." He could take the sights and things he saw and felt into songs, writing more and better songs not just for healing and magic but for his own entertainment.

"Sometimes, change isn't all that bad." Onew leaned back in his chair, chuckling as he watched Taemin disarm Minho with a deft flick of his wrist. Jonghyun looked down at his shoes and tried not to laugh, nodding slowly.
 

Still, three months of retrieval missions couldn't prepare Jonghyun for the next big quest that Chiron entrusted him and Key with. 

"The Romans are lacking legionnaires." Chiron called the two of them up to the Big House as he usually did just before breakfast. Key was absently buttering toast, placing two slices on Jonghyun's plate as well as he listened to the centaur speak. Even close to Key as he was, every new development still made Jonghyun's heart stutter a little in his ribcage. 

"So we need to persuade them that they... don't lack legionnaires?" Cocking his head, Key bit into his toast, prompting Jonghyun to do the same.

"Ask them for what they want and need. Iris-call me and I'll gather the cabin counselors so that we can decide how to... navigate this." Chiron's expression told them that this was serious, and prompted Jonghyun's next question: "What happens if they don't have enough people to make up their legion?"

"They are more susceptible to attack, and they'll be unable to pass on the legacy of their cohort." That was certainly extreme enough. "If they don't get enough legionnaires, they might start accusing us of stealing their soldiers, which..." 

"In the worst case scenario, provokes war?" Key offered, causing Jonghyun to nearly choke on his eggs.

"Yes, that." Chiron cracked a smile and nodded at Key.

"You're entrusting us with something that important?" Jonghyun looked up at their mentor, disbelieving, and Chiron clapped him on his back with a smile.

"I believe you can do it without provoking them into a full-out war, and to navigate any traps they might set." Even after years of collaboration, both sides still did not trust each other fully, which was both expected and frustrating.
 

"We can do this, right?" Right outside the Roman camp, Key looked at Jonghyun uncertainly. It was the first time he had heard anything but full confidence and certainty from the son of Aphrodite, and Jonghyun blinked before smiling softly and reaching out to him.

"We'll try our best, and hope for the best. And maybe try to enjoy ourselves? It's the first time I'm visiting Camp Jupiter." Jonghyun resisted the urge to pick up Key's hand and smiled at the younger male as they stepped up to the entrance. The guards were already expecting them, and they were brought in, checked for weapons, and verified before entering the camp proper. The guards were two spunky campers who titled themselves V and J-Hope.

The camp was huge. The Mess Hall was easily three or four times the size of the pavilion at Camp Half-Blood, and there was still New Rome and Temple Hill to see.

"We belong to the Fifth Cohort! Tradition says we're the worst, but currently, we're winning in camp games and have a praetor, so they can all it." Sticking out his tongue playfully, V tugged on Jonghyun's hand to lead him through to the baths. 

"You gotta try the Roman baths at least once while you're here, okay? We can go together!" J-Hope was equally enthusiastic, pointing out the barracks for them. "You'll be staying at one of the guest barracks, here, you can go and put your stuff down before we convene for lunch."

"W-wait, when will we be meeting your praetor?" Jonghyun had been steered to Temple Hill and back, and still they had seen no trace or mention of the praetors.

"Oh! Right, Hobi, we have to bring them to see Rapmon and G-Dragon." It took Jonghyun a few moments to understand that they were talking about their praetors. Some kind of nickname...

Jonghyun could almost feel Key rolling his eyes behind them, and he stifled a laugh at that thought as V and J-Hope skipped ahead of them. 

The praetors were nothing to laugh about, though. Rap Monster and G-Dragon were imposing figures on their praetor's chairs, and V and J-hope bowed to G-Dragon before hi-fiving Rap Monster and bouncing off again. Jonghyun and Key bowed to both, and Rap Monster smiled at them from his chair.

"Not having enough legionnaires is a big problem for us," G-Dragon cut straight to the point, his eyes uncomfortably sharp and flicking between Jonghyun and Key. "We're not receiving enough legacies either, and we wanted to ask if you have any similar problems on your side."

"Quite the opposite; we're still retrieving many demigods every month." At Key's words, G-Dragon leaned forward, suddenly interested in him: "You're a son of Aphrodite? Those are rare." 

Key stiffened next to him, and Jonghyun resisted the urge to punch the praetor for mentioning it, despite his refusal to harm people. From what he knew of Key, this was his number one topic to avoid. He hated his parentage, although he hid that fact well and tried to use his gift to help others. Jonghyun had no idea why.

"That's not the main point," Rap Monster interrupted then, shaking his head. "We need new recruits, and we'd like to see if you have any suggestions to help us find them, since you have such a high success rate."

"Please let us discuss this with our camp council, and then we'll discuss it with you tomorrow." Jonghyun spoke in lieu of the two of them, and G-Dragon nodded thoughtfully, leaning back in his seat.

That was how their first audience with the praetors of Camp Jupiter ended, and Jonghyun was not at all satisfied.
 

"They want to know why we can find so many demigods." Key was pissed as he paced around the barrack, and the entire council's eyes followed him up and down the room. The prism was sitting on the windowsill, the rainbow in the center of the room almost blindingly bright.

"If they utilized their satyrs, maybe they would actually be able to find something," Seohyun, the counsellor of the Demeter Cabin, sniffed disdainfully. Jonghyun snorted, but Chiron just frowned at the two of them.

"You shouldn't criticize their traditions." 

"Why not we share our demigods?" Leeteuk tilted his head slightly. "We have so many, we can just give some of them to the Romans."

"That's not how it works..." Jonghyun shook his head. "From what we've seen of their fighting styles, they have completely different skillsets from us."

"You sound like Minho," Onew beamed, causing Minho and Taemin to grin at each other.

"Stay there a few more days and see if you can figure anything out," Chiron sighed finally after more than an hour of fruitless discussion. Still frustrated, Key flung himself onto the bed opposite Jonghyun's, eyebrows drawn together in a scowl. Jonghyun waved a hand through the rainbow, terminating the call, and the council disappeared from sight.

"I hate it when people judge me as a son of Aphrodite." After a few moments of silence, Key spoke tonelessly, causing Jonghyun to jerk his head up.

"They like defining me as a pretty boy who can't fight and is useless on the battlefield." Frowning, Key drew his knives lazily and sheathed them back venomously, his gaze dark on his blades. "Children of Aphrodite can both look great and fight, and counsel others on their relationships! We're not useless, and I've fought so hard to prove them wrong, but still, s like this judge us on face value." Huffing, Key placed his knives back into his bag and rolled onto his back.

"I think you're amazing." Before he could stop himself, words spilled past Jonghyun's lips and he sat forward on the edge of his bunk. "You fight amazingly, you're great to your friends and people who come to you for help, and you manage to look flawless while doing all that. If my word counts to you." Key had turned his head to stare at Jonghyun intently, forcing him to continue speaking in a paltry attempt at comfort.

For a few minutes, the room stewed in silence, and Jonghyun started to fidget until Key broke into a smile, eyes slipping shut as he turned his head back to stare at the top of his bunk.

"Thanks, Jonghyun."
 

They stayed for almost a week in Camp Jupiter, unable to find a feasible solution for their problem. Every time they talked to the praetors with a series of ideas, tensions and frustration escalated, both at the lack of ideas and some of the Romans' lack of respect for the Greeks. Even after participating in war games to whack some of the Romans and relieve his anger, Key remained restless and unable to generate ideas to help the situation.

It took a sightseeing trip on the streets of New Rome for inspiration to strike Jonghyun: "Hey, Key, I have an idea!" The son of Aphrodite was queuing for coffee, and Jonghyun ran back to him with an excited smile. 

"What if we have a summer exchange programme between our two camps? Then the legion can have an extension of their current cohorts, and people who can work well in teams can choose to come over, if they wish. Then they can build their base for more legacies as well!" Key tilted his head, considering the idea, and his smile slowly widened as he took the cups of coffee from the store. 

"I think that will work, actually. Let's go and talk to Chiron, GD and Rapmon." 
 

The talks were settled briskly with an immediate council meeting and discussion between the praetors and Camp Half Blood counselors. It was a feasible idea, and all that was left were the details to be settled and straightened out for the future exchanges.

"Good work, Jonghyun, Key." Chiron smiled at them, relieved, just before they terminated the Iris-call.

"I apologize if I offended you on the first day." GD was in a rare good mood, and the two of them just smiled and bowed to the two praetors, grateful to get everything over and settled without erupting into war. 

Soon enough, they were back out on the streets of New Rome, and Jonghyun whooped, all tension and stress from the last week leaving his body as he swept Key up into a hug, arms wrapping around the younger male almost instinctively. Burying his head in Key's shoulder, he mumbled into Key's shirt: "We did it. We're done. We can go back now."

For a scary moment, Key stiffened in Jonghyun's arms, and Jonghyun was about to step back and apologize when Key wrapped his arms around Jonghyun as well and exhaled shakily, resting his head on Jonghyun's shoulder. "We did it."
 

It was true, to a certain extent, that nothing changed after Jonghyun took on quests. He still did what he liked, wrote his songs and at archery. But he had gained friends, sort of, and learned how to better use his powers and abilities to help others. And now, camp truly did feel like home.

There was still that one tiny, big problem in his life- his crush on Key, the head counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin. 

And perhaps, now that Key wasn't so far away out of his reach, he might just stand a chance with him.

"Look for me tomorrow morning just before dawn, at the tree I'm usually at?" Jonghyun slipped over to the Aphrodite cabin's table to whisper into Key's ear. The other demigod blushed prettily, while the rest of his half-siblings giggled and catcalled at the pair of them. 

The sky was still dark when Jonghyun climbed up the tree that he usually sat under, guitar strapped safely over his shoulder. He was strumming and singing softly when there was two sharp raps at the base of the tree, and he looked down to see Key staring up at him from the ground. Smiling, he put his guitar to a side, balancing it on a fork, and reached down to help Key up into the tree.

"I wrote a song, and I want you to listen to it. It's called White T-shirt." He smiled warmly at Key, picking up his guitar once again, and started singing softly.

It’s all about you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you
You, you, you, you
It’s all about you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you
You, you, you, you

Your casual style makes you look even more special
Your silhouette provokes my imagination
Your slightly messy hair
Your body stands out even more

It’s your white t-shirt
It’s just white t-shirt
It’s your white t-shirt
It’s just white t-shirt

As if it was passing by, I saw your smile-ile
I’ve already deeply fallen
Look at those chic eyes, ha...

"I really like you. Will you be my boyfriend?"

Just as the sun came up, Key took a deep breath and leaned forward, kissing Jonghyun.
 

"I can take that as a yes, right?"

"You really want me to say it, even after kissing you?"