Chaeyoung loved Friday afternoons.

The others always had plans which meant she and Mina could hang out in the older girl’s room alone. They would never do much, just laze around watching the television that Sana had “convinced” some of the boys at camp to sneak in for them. Chaeyoung never really cared what they watched, it was usually some anime show that she never truly took notice of, she mostly just watched Mina. Smiling brightly whenever the object of her affections laughed at what was on screen, a rare sound nobody outside of their little group heard - Mina loudly laughing without a care in the world, it was when she looked the most beautiful. Her favourite part was that it was just them, alone, she loved the other girls but sometimes it was nice to have one on one time with her crush. No Jeongyeon to , or Sana to try and push them together, no Nayeon or Jihyo trying to convince them that Chaeyoung wasn’t old enough for relationships. Just Chae and Mina….

….which is why when Mina told her their friends had planned to go and play hide and seek in the forest, as opposed to their usual plans, Chaeyoung felt her chest ache. She sulked the entire walk from Sana and Mina’s shared cabin, not even greeting the others when they met with them at the forest entrance. If she hadn’t been busy sulking she would have sensed something was off, Mina and Sana weren’t talking - the air between the duo was tense. Mina herself was walking ahead of them, determination set in stone on her face as if she had something difficult that she needed to do. However, since Chaeyoung was an artist by nature she was usually away with the fairies making her to oblivious to really read the atmosphere within the situations surrounding her. The group were stood under the first row of trees, Momo practically vibrating with excitement at going back to the place she knew.

“Hey guys!” Jihyo called in greeting, “You’re late!”

“Sorry…” Sana sighed, “Mina and I were talking about something important.”

Mina rolled her eyes and walked away from her sister, Chaeyoung following like the lap dog she was. It was Nayeon who floated the idea of teams. It meant they wouldn’t have to go through the forest alone, the only person who knew it well enough to find her way around by herself was Tzuyu but Zeus  only knows where she was. As the main group began deciding teams Chaeyoung just shyly looked at Mina.

“Want to be on a team togeth---”

“How do I look?” Mina asked suddenly,

Chaeyoung was definitely taken aback, “I…Uhh….huh…?”

Mina looked down at herself, running her hands down herself to smooth her outfit, “Do my clothes look okay? Maybe I should have gone with the other one…”

Suddenly, Chaeyoung got the power of speech again, “You look perfect….you always look perfect.”

Mina turned to look at her, a strange sadness in her eyes. The second part of Chaeyoung’s sentence had not been meant for Mina to here, it was like word vomit - accidentally tumbling past her lips before she could stop it. Mina wasn’t dumb, she knew what Chaeyoung felt for her was a little more than platonic. They were so close as friends that for as long as Chaeyoung never confessed, Mina could pretend there was nothing more. But sometimes there were these moments where Chaeyoung would be caught staring or would say something too honest and Mina would be reminded that a day would have to come where she broke Chaeyoung’s heart.

“Chae…”

“Sorry,” Chaeyoung interrupted, “It just slipped out. Forget I said it.”

Mina sighed, “I can’t…not any more.”

She grabbed Chaeyoung’s hand and dragged her even further from the group to talk. Mina looked so nervous, like what she was about to say next was something awful not just a hard truth.

“Chae I love you, but not in the way you love me.” Mina finally said aloud, “I love being your friend, I love hanging out with you but that’s all. I’m sorry but…I….” Mina looked towards their group, “I’m in love with someone else.”

Chaeyoung, with unshed tears, looked to where Mina’s eyes were. Nayeon was watching Jeongyeon and Sana bicker over Jihyo, her eyes drifted to meet Mina’s and she smiled gently at her. In that moment something in Chaeyoung snapped in half, she always knew her feelings were one-sided but to have Mina finally say it caused more pain than she really knew how to process. She wouldn’t cry though, not in front of her. Instead she sniffed back her emotions and did as her mother would wish, she used logic rather than emotion. She decided that seperating herself some from Mina would be the best option.

“Nayeon!” She called with the lump in , “I wanna go with Sana, can you be with Mina?”

Nayeon paused, looking between the two, “Of course.”

Once the teams were decided the others all ran into the forest leaving Sana and Chaeyoung alone to count under the tree. It was hard not to notice the little smiles Nayeon and Mina exchanged before running into the wooded area. Chaeyoung sat on a nearby log hiding her face in her hands, the elder girl stood off to the side watching her. She had been furious that her sister had not returned the admirations of Chaeyoung, that the burning love Chaeyoung had would go to waste. But Mina’s heart belonged to someone else and Sana just had to get over that, as would Chaeyoung.

“Are you alright?” Sana asked after a while,

Chaeyoung pulled her hands away with a huff, “Mind if we split up whilst seeking, I need some time to myself.”

She stood not really allowing Sana any time to answer as she walked past her.

“Of course, just don’t get lost.”

Chaeyoung didn’t respond verbally, instead she didn’t even turn as she non-committally waved over her shoulder. Not even bothering to look for anyone else she just walked through the trees, mind filled with depressing thoughts brought on by the firm rejection from Mina. She wondered what was wrong with her, what Nayeon had that she didn’t. The truth was there was probably a long list of aspects that made the eldest of their group the appropriate partner for the youngest daughter of Aphrodite. Chaeyoung felt somewhat angry that Mina couldn’t see how great they’d be together, she was the one who always made sure Mina was heard during conversations. She was the one who let the older girl cry time and time again on her shoulder. Every dream, every fight with Sana, ever single moment of Mina’s day could be told to her again and again and she would listen all night if she had to, even if she knew the stories every detail already.

Chaeyoung stopped…..oh her Zeus……She was in the friendzone.

That realisation cause her to let out a loud shout and kick a nearby pebble into the bushes next to her. Then a very new problem arose, the bush began rustling and a loud growl began to drift out from it. Chaeyoung took a step back, how could her day get any worse? A pair of eyes glared out from the bushes, the growling getting louder as two orange paws stepped out revealing one of the last animals she expected to see in a forest. It was a large, uncommon beast with orange fur and black stripes decorating its massive figure.

Oh…a tiger….yep that was enough to completely ruin her day.

She raised her hands in defence, trying to signal she was no threat but the tiger didn’t stop advancing. When it paused she watched it prepare to lunge and it was decided very quickly that she, whilst scrappy at best, was probably not about to beat a tiger in a head on fight….alone….with no weaponry or tactical skill. So what did she do? Ran. Ran like a little . With a roar the tiger gave chase, mere centimetres from a flailing paw catching her heels. Chaeyoung screamed loudly, hoping to gain the attention of literally anyone to come save her. She ran through the woods, jumping over roots and bushes that attempted to trip her up during the run for her life. Then she began to hear more growling from around her. She cursed, it seemed to be coming from every direction now and fear coursed through her veins as she realised that she would most likely be ripped to shreds.

Then somehow it got even worse when she found herself meat with the bottom of what appeared to be a large rock face.

Chaeyoung began praying to every God and Goddess she could think of, she turned to face the tiger who had slowed to approach her carefully. Like it was toying with her. There was still growling coming from every direction, Chaeyoung was very….very…screwed. That was until a black blur flew out of the trees to her left and tackled the tiger onto its back, taking the beast by surprise. Then a grey blur cam from the other side as the tiger fought to regain control. Two more blurs appeared, one light brown and one dark brown - standing in front of Chaeyoung and growling at the tiger in a defensive stance. When they were close enough Chaeyoung realised that they were large dog-like creatures, not wolves but definitely not domesticated house dogs either.

The tiger grappled with the two that had attacked it, the black dog fighting from underneath while the grey hung off its back. In a moment of strength the tiger reared back causing the grey hound to go scattering into a bush and allowing the beast to focus on the dog beneath it. With a roar it caught the dog by the throat apparently seeking to rip it out.

“No!” Chaeyoung cried out, unable to stop herself,

Woosh.

It was at that moment yet another (AN-O-THER!!) strange thing happened, an arrow flew from the treeline and impacted the dead centre of the tigers forehead. It slumped to the floor, obviously unable to survive the head shot. The dog beneath it whimpered and crawled out from under it, laying nearby to rest as the other hounds approached to its wounds. Chaeyoung searched the trees and locked eyes with her saviour, Tzuyu’s eyes looked sad as she stared at the now dead tiger. Like she regretted what she had done even though it would have killed the hounds and Chaeyoung if it could. Chaeyoung wanted to thank her, to ask her how she had been able to shoot like that, but couldn’t find the words. The sun was now shining on the clearing she realised she was stood in, the sunlight shining on the archer in such a way that for a brief moment Chaeyoung was once more completely tongue tied.

Even if she had been infatuated with Mina and Mina only, she could allow herself to admit that Artemis’ daughter was a specimen of pure beauty.

“Chaeyoung-ah!” Jeongyeon yelled as the group bounded into the clearing, wrapping her bro in a hug, “We saw you running from the tiger, are you okay?”

Jihyo pulled Jeongyeon from the short girl and began checking her over for injury, “What in Olympus is a tiger doing in these woods anyway?”

The others got to them after Jihyo had discovered that physically Chaeyoung was fine, if a little shaken. Momo was bringing up the rear with Dahyun only before she could reach the others she was tackled to the floor. Everyone went on edge as three dogs clambered over Momo…until they realised she was giggling at their attentions. The at her face, tails wagging happily, even the injured black hound began crawling over to where Momo could reach out to pet it softly, a sad look on her face.

“Aw, poor thing.” Momo cooed allowing the dog to nuzzle her hand weakly, she stood and noticed everyone staring at her confused, “What?”

“Told you,” Dahyun shrugged, “Not every girl has earned the love and attentions of a group of vicious hunting dogs.”

Mina and Nayeon looked on as the others laughed, hands joined following a conversation alone in the woods. Mina wanted to approach Chaeyoung and check she was alright, only for once when she sought out the girl’s face she wasn’t already looking at her. Instead Chaeyoung’s perplexed gaze was on Tzuyu, the girl was now kneeling by the dead tiger - head bowed. She was looking over it, having removed the arrow from it’s head. Her bow was on her back again and she paid no mind to the laughing girls behind her. Chaeyoung considered approaching but Tzuyu just looked sad, she didn’t know if the girl would appreciate her company. Deciding to go with the adrenaline she found could only be produced by a terrifying tiger chase sequence she walked over to stand next to Tzuyu.

“Thank you.” Chaeyoung mumbled quietly, “You didn’t need to save me.”

“Yes I did.” Tzuyu sent her a small smile, eyes still sad, then she looked back at the tiger and sighed,

Tzuyu produced a trowel from her satchel. She stayed kneeling but shuffled a little away from the beast and began digging, she made quick work of it too quickly creating a large hole in the earth beneath them. Who keeps a mini shovels on their person at all times?

“What are you doing?” Chaeyoung asked,

“Everything and everyone deserves a proper burial.” Tzuyu replied, voice stressed from digging,

Chaeyoung paused, wondering if she was serious, “You do know it tried to kill me right?”

Tzuyu giggled lightly, “Animals aren’t like mortals, they don’t hunt for sport they hunt to survive - as should be the way. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Chaeyoung watched her dig for a moment, was this girl really sad that she had to kill an animal that was attacking someone? She looked around and noticed a large flat rock nearby, deciding to help she went to pick it up and help Tzuyu dig this grave. She knelt next to her saviour and began scraping the stone into the dirt to aid in the hole digging, Tzuyu stopped a second to watch her a moment before continuing. The moment was peaceful, even with the conversation going on in the background as Dahyun was bullied by the hounds (they were knocking her with their heads quite harshly). As Chaeyoung felt herself finally relax in the monotonous action, distracting her from the bad she had been having, Tzuyu was quietly panicking in gay at being so close to her unrequited crush. She played it cool though….by going red and refusing eye contact.

“Chaeyoung!” A shrill voice interrupted the moment,

Sana ran over to them, Tzuyu remembering her previous words ignored her and focused on digging.

“We’re going to start the game again, you coming?”

Chaeyoung considered a moment before looking at Tzuyu’s little shovel and the size of the beast, “No, I think it’s only polite I help her.”

Sana went to say something, but instead kept closed and walked away. Momo patted Tzuyu’s shoulder as she walked past, checking in and leaving the silent promise of “we’ll talk later”. Then it was just the two of them digging quietly, they didn’t say a word as they dug - truth is Chaeyoung was too deep in thought and Tzuyu was too busy being a panicked gay to offer any real conversation. It was times like this Tzuyu wished she was good with words, even if it made her sad the way she killed the tiger was kind of badass and if she had the perfect, smoothest line she probably could have wooed Chaeyoung. Only she didn’t…because her mother was the Goddess of s.

Chaeyoung couldn’t say how long the duo dug for but eventually Tzuyu stopped her, they were now both stood in the hole and definitely sweating more than Chaeyoung thought she would be today. Tzuyu wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, she met Chaeyoung’s eyes and managed to smile without embarrassing herself. She wiped her hands on her trousers and hopped out of the grave, Chaeyoung for her part began looking around to figure out how sge was going to escape before a dead tiger landed on top of her (not everyone was as tall as Little-Miss-Pretty-Long-Legs) then a hand appeared from above. For a reason she couldn’t explain Chaeyoung felt nervous about taking it, but after a moment did so and allowed Tzuyu to pull her up. When the elder of the two couldn’t bring herself to touch the tigers body, Tzuyu said she could go if she wished - only Chaeyoung found she didn’t want to go just yet, so settled for watching as Tzuyu rolled up her sleeves and dragging the tiger to the grave. She found her focus on the tensing arm muscles Tzuyu had, every time she pulled the tiger her arms would tense showing off firm defined biceps.

“Wow,” Chaeyoung hummed once the tiger had been dropped in the hole, “You’re pretty strong.”

“I…er…you thank…..” Tzuyu rethought her sentence, “Th-Thank you….I meant thank you.”

Tzuyu didn’t know if the mistake came from exhaustion or just her general social awkwardness….or the fact that Chaeyoung was probably the most amazing person she’d ever seen and they were less than a meter from one another and had touched hands.

Pushing the earth back over the tiger was much easier than the digging but still, by the time they were done night had fallen. They stood back to marvel at their work, both tired from the hard labour. Chaeyoung felt once more like she should be the one to break this silence, however before she could there was a little whimper from behind them and Tzuyu span with worry etched on her face. The black hound was laying on the floor whining from its injuries, the other hounds around it standing protectively and growled when Chaeyoung tried to get too close only for Tzuyu to scold them lightly. She knelt next to the dog who tried to move closer but was stopped by gentle hands, Tzuyu looked over his wounds with pure heartbreak on her face. When it’s muzzle shifted on to her lap she its head gently, hushing its cries.

“Could you hand me my satchel?” Tzuyu asked quietly, gay nerves replaced by worry for one of her own,

Chaeyoung immediately broke out of her stupor and ran to where she remembered the satchel being, once in her possession she ran back, surprised the dogs let her past. Tzuyu rummaged through her back and produced some gauze, a bottle of water and antiseptic wipes. The dog immediately tried to move away when the water first touched the wound so Chaeyoung found herself holding its head in place. Tzuyu thanked her softly and continued dressing the dogs wounds as best she could.

“He’ll need stitches….” Tzuyu announced sadly, looking at a gash on his front,

“Do you have that?”

Tzuyu nodded, “Back at my cabin…but I don’t want to leave him out in the cold.”

Chaeyoung had noticed the chill that had come from the fall of night and knew that the dog wouldn’t fair well in this condition.

“We’ll have to take him back to camp.” Chaeyoung said,

Tzuyu sighed, “I’ll have to carry him, I don’t think he can walk like this.”

It was then Chaeyoung heard a sniffle, she turned to see that Tzuyu had a tear rolling down her cheek, “Please don’t cry, he’ll be okay.”

She placed her hand on the taller girl’s shoulder, only for Tzuyu to visibly wince and try to pretend she hadn’t.

“You can’t lift him, not if you’re hurt.”

Tzuyu shook her head, “I can, I just pulled a muscle dragging the tiger.”

Chaeyoung sent her a look, “No way, let me do it.”

“But….” Gay-Panic-Tzuyu was not a smart Tzuyu, “You’re so small….”

Chaeyoung scoffed, “I may be small but I am mighty. Besides…he saved me, I owe him.”

To prove her point she carefully gathered the hound into her arms and stood, albeit quite shakily, the dog was heavy and grumbling at being held by someone he didn’t know. They snuck him all the way to Tzuyu’s cabin, miraculously without getting caught. That night it was decided that there was a new beginning in the mist, the beginning of a beautiful friendship…for Chaeyoung at least Tzuyu was dreading the awkward mess she would soon become the more they hung out.

Little did they know, once they had walked out of the clearing a pair of hidden eyes watched them leave. This new development was a problem, but it wouldn’t stop the grand plan. Nothing would.