It was blinding.

All he saw was light the moment his eyes opened just a fraction, pure white seeping beneath his heavy eyelids and into his bleary irises. He shut his eyes in a blinded panic, and then hesitatingly, opened them once more.

The first thing to register in his mind was there’s a roof. And it was made of wood.

Not obsidian. Warm, homely wood. Jeongguk’s heart swam with a sudden burst of heat, like there was a sudden lift of weight from his weary heart. And then confusion rose, a wave of strangeness that took over his senses. Jeongguk sat up, the brightly embroidered quilt falling off his body and revealing his very upper body. Another glance around revealed walls of sky blue and a mahogany desk, with a closed laptop sitting calmly atop its polished surface. The aquamarine curtains veiling a gleaming window were pulled apart, offering a glittering view of a neat city. 

On cue, an obnoxious 21st century pop song blasted to life, forcing Jeongguk to shut his ears from the horrible noise. He leaped off his bed and hurriedly folded the blankets out of trained habit, and without further ado, dashed to the nearest mirror he could find.

“What in the name of blazing hell am I??!!”

.

“Interesting.”

Kim Taehyung, young CEO and talented businessman, smirked at the vision currently displaying on his laptop screen. The young man running around it a state of flustered hysteria amused him to no end. “So this is what the son of Hades has been reduced to. He seems... fun.”

“The gossip sites are exploding with news by now,” Daniel slid another few buttons on his phone, checking through the immortal forums on Instagram. The son of Aphrodite tapped his elegant fingers on Taehyung’s oak desk, humming in feline beguilement. His unusual eccentricity piked Taehyung’s curiosity, who couldn’t resist asking, “What’s so special about him?”

Daniel arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “You don’t know? The whole world is in a havoc right now. Don’t kid me, you probably know already.” He let a flicker of annoyance dance across those usually pristine features. Taehyung was even more drawn in by this, Daniel’s conspicuous clandestinity. “Come on, spill the beans,” he said.

Daniel frowned. “Now that’s odd of you. But that aside, the child of death is rumoured to be a true god, the son of both Persephone and Hades, and apparently not a demigod as expected. Now, it’s only a rumour, but his father himself has not come to deny it, so might it be the truth then?”

“Now, now, mi caro,” Taehyung scoffs. “Esso è a story for little ones. Are you so sure to believe all the gossip that goes on under mi babbo’s eyes?” Taehyung launched into a small tirade, Italian spilling from his lips as easy as water from a spring. Daniel rolled his eyes, eyes flicking to the panelled windows that lined the length of Taehyung’s office, which revealed the gleaming city below. 

For a few terse moments, quiescence reigned. Because of the extremely uncomfortable circumstances the both of them were currently stuck in, Taehyung reconsidered his choice of words within the confines of his very fine head. Was it a tad too rude? Daniel’s temper was a hard one to calm when he’s in a mood. He stole a few unnoticed glances at his companion, who sported an expression of thinking deeply. Now that was another rare visage, Taehyung was about to when said male sprung from his seat and beamed at Taehyung. “I’ve figured it out!”

“What nonsense now, mi amico?” Taehyung sputtered, shocked. Daniel’s almond eyes were wide, pupils of the darkest chocolate threatening to swallow Taehyung whole when they met his own. A startled screech interrupted the duo for a mere second, but Daniel was too animated to be deterred. “Tell me, my friend, what is the role of the mighty Hades?”

A chilly wind blew in through the single open window, but Daniel only sent a breeze to shut the offending glass pane. Taehyung wisely kept his mouth shut, while Daniel babbled in about everything and nothing in particular. “Would you not think that to send a son — even if it’s an immortal son — down to the human realm is a teeny bit too out of character of the old King?” Daniel punctuated every word with frantic movements. The sun hit his skin so that it gleamed, tan and dusky, but for once, the young god was too immersed within his — horrifying, admittedly — performance to realise and fawn over his own beauty. “Why would he send a god to us? And more importantly, why have we never known of the existence of this god-human? What is there for the King of the Underworld to hide from us? What deep, deadly secret lies beyond our knowledge inside he obsidian fortress ringed by souls of the dead?” Daniel held his chest dramatically, peeking open an eye only to see Taehyung glaring at him with complete disinterest.

“You dream too much, mi caro,” Taehyung insisted, ringing the bell on his desk to summon his secretary. The woman bows. “Would you kindly bring a cup of warm tea? Mr. Kang here appears to feel a bit overly energetic. Some calming chamomile, perhaps?” The secretary answered Taehyung’s smile with one of her own, and vanished into the hallway once more, presumably to retrieve what Taehyung had so kindly offered his friend. “Have a little rest. You are clearly overly enthused for the day. You mother will not be pleased with me, and you haven’t even finished your quota of targets for the day!” Taehyung exclaimed.

“Oh posh posh, that’s nothing,” Daniel waved off his concerns. “Who doesn’t need an arrow of love? Just a few random ones will do. Now, I don’t want tea, I want some nice — strong, mind you — whiskey to get these strange imaginations out of my head. They’re utterly ridiculous.” Daniel took a seat again, exhaustion written on his face, except that Taehyung knew him all to well to fall for his acting. But he had to give him credit, it was indeed convincing.

“Shut up, Daniel,” came the heartbreaking shutdown of Daniel’s little hope. Daniel clutched his heart like someone had stabbed him, which might be partially true. “You wound me, Tae.”

Taehyung picked up a delicate pen and began to write, in sprawling, curvaceous scripture, a letter to his darling father. The bold screamed of grandeur, but by doing so he achieved his greater goal: ignoring Daniel. The other god protested loudly, but Taehyung buried his mind in the euphuistic phraseology required to communicate with his father. After all, the man was a higher deity who spoke Shakespearean as well as any other respectable 17th century man but failed to learn the modern languages spoken in everyday exchanges. But he didn’t mind, not really. At the very least, it provided a means to talk to his father, no matter how far they may be.

Finally, Daniel’s patience was worn thin. “Kim Taehyung! You make me age faster than usual with your childish antics. Would it kill to listen, for once?” Taehyung heard the inherent plea to speak hidden inside folds of rakish accents, and he capitulated, allowing him the few precious minutes to deliver what he would. Taehyung waited.

“You know who you are and what you did, Tae. You cannot run away from him, no matter how much you desire your own power to save youself from him. It was your faul