“Whose son do you reckon he is?” Kyungsoo chirps beside him.

The short, bushy eyebrowed son of ares was exactly the opposite of his father. He was fond of gossip, and had no interest in war of any sort. Of course, he had inherited one trait from Ares and that was his need to be violent when needed.

“Ah!” Baekhyun held his arm in pain.

Kyungsoo mid-twisting his friend's arm looked at him in annoyance, “I’m asking you a question and you're straight up ignoring me!” 

“For the love of Zeus, let go of me!” Baekhyun swatted his hand away, rolling over on his bunk bed, ignoring Kyungsoo’s glare,“I don’t care for the new boy. He’s just...another obstacle for me-”

“To be on a quest blah blah blah. Ugh you're no fun.”

Kyungsoo jumps from the bed and skips towards their cabin window, trying to catch a closer look at the new student. From afar, he looked tall. He was walking alongside their camp instructor who was smiling fondly at his new pupil.

His ears were like that of a nymph and his eyes were quite large and curious.

“Alec seems to like him. I mean that guys barely talks to us,” Kyungsoo thinks to himself thoughtfully.

His eyes followed their husky male instructor who was pointing at various structures along the cemented road of their camp. Kyungsoo had grown into a stalker at this point. 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, wondering how on earth he and a confused son Ares had even become friends. Then again, it wasn’t like Baekhyun to associate with anyone at Camp-half blood. He had been a loner until his second year when Kyungsoo had approached, very insistent that he befriend him. Otherwise, Baekhyun saw himself as a lonewolf most of the time. 

The demi-god was hesitant at his intrusion of privacy, but he decided that he should pity him. He didn’t want Kyungsoo's father, Ares, to be cross with him. I mean, he was the god of war that type of trouble was not needed in Baekhyun’s life. 

“I’ll be at the training grounds.” Baekhyun stands up from his quick nap.

Kyungsoo waves at him, half of his attention at the figure outside.

Baekhyun preferred archery. He had always had a knack for long range battle. There was even a place reserved for him near the very end of the training field. A place everyone just decided to leave Baekhyun to. No one really wanted to associate with him anyways because of his unapproachable nature. Dark, cold and somber. It was no wonder people mistook him for the son of Hades. 

    The small nook at the training field had his bows hanging against the wooden board. His bullseye target was out of shape. It was almost breaking apart at the point but he had no intention of replacing it. Everyone knew Baekhyun liked his space. He had always seemed very insistent. 

This is why everyone waved at him nervously as he strutted towards his position. Swiftly, he pulled out his bow and arrow and began aiming at the target. The first short he calculated was only about an inch away. He tried again. Bullseye. 

Any stranger would assume Baekhyun was the son of aries. His combat style is everything. Yet, this was far from the case.

Someone beside him stared at him wide eyed.

Of course if Baekhyun were anyone else he would have loved the attention. Loved being called a hero, or a genius. Byun Baekhyun was the son of Aphrodite. He wasn’t supposed to be a strong, powerful man. He was just a lover boy. This was something he didn’t want to come up. Ever. 

He continued to throw the arrows until he felt his satchel empty. Thinking about his goodness mother made his insides burn. He felt nothing more than hatred for his mother. Maybe that is why he imagined her head at the end of the target every time.

When he had first come to camp half blood he was ignorant to think that the gods were good people. Coming to camp he expected to finally meet the woman that was supposed to nurture him and take care of him. After his fourth year at Camp-half blood he had yet to meet the god of love. So much for the god of love huh?

He decided not to dwell on the thoughts too long. As they say, bad mouthing gods only resulted in wars.

“Baekhyun!” He heard the excited voice of his instructor.

He turned, catching sight of Alec. He was wearing a white T-shirt reading Camp Halfblood  over his half horse body. Beside him was a shy, tall looking guy Baekhyun didn’t recognise. The boy looked at him tilting his head as if he had seen a ghost, his face flushed.

“Good morning, Alec,”.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard but we have a new demi-god here at the camp,” Alec motions for the tall boy to step forward and introduce himself.

 “Hi! I’m Park Chanyeol! S-son of Zeus!” He said, bowing. 

A rather enthusiastic camper, wearing an orange camp half-blood t-shirt. It was neatly ironed and crisply new. Baekhyun was wearing his armour today, but the shirt he usually sported was already turning brown rather than its original vibrant orange. It proved how long he’d actually been at camp. That and his camp necklace that had three beads that the new demi-god in front of him was void of. 

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, nodding that he was being acknowledged. However, he didn’t make any move to respond back. It was awkward. Baekhyun knew that he should probably be more nice to people, but he really was in no position to tell someone who his god-parent was. The half-blood reckoned the new guy wanted to show off his ancestors. Who wouldn’t? The son of Zeus...was much more reputable to say. The son of the big three was something Baekhyun would flaunt too.

Still, it was a shame that really they were all related to bags of they called gods. 

“Well, I take it you’re training now? Right Baekhyun?” Alec said.

“Ah well-”

Before he could say that he had actually finished up, Alec interrupted him. 

“Perfect! Could you show Chanyeol around? He says he’s always wanted to try archery!” 

Before Baekhyun could protest even an ounce his camp instructor left in a flash, making his hooves speed up as soon as he saw the demi-god’s face twisted in annoyance.

The son of Aphrodite clenched his jaw before looking straight at the newbie. He noticed the demi-gods had a slight spark in his eyes everytime he blinked. Like a lightning strike.

“I take it you think you’ll be good at this?” Baekhyun walks past him, the student eagerly following him.

“Uh-well i don’t know….I just-” He's cut off by a sac of arrows that are thrown to him courtesy of Baekhyun himself.

“We’ll see today.”

Chanyeol was needless to say, incredibly uncoordinated, clumsy and tall. At first, Baekhyun had decided to let the newbie try it out by himself and he wouldn’t intervene. Within the first shot, the son of Zeus had already thrown his arrow at another demigod whom was smart enough to dodge it. Everyone glanced  at him in disbelief.

“Looks like...archery isn’t your thing.” Baekhyun concludes coldly.

A look of panic crosses Chanyeol’s face as he hears these words. He scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. “I mean I could practice, maybe with some training I could improve-”

Baekhyun snickers, “How old are you?”

“Uh-16 why?”

The demi-god only inquires his response. They were the same age, although it didn’t look like it. Baekhyun had come to camp half blood at a young age of twelve and he was nowhere near as immature as the lanky giraffe in front of him. Chanyeol had a lot to learn. It wasn’t just about practice at the training grounds. He had to sacrifice his whole life to get better. Go on quests, go through private missions. Still, maybe being the son of Zues could catalyze his position. The big three kids always had their way. 

“I have to go now. You’ll find Alec at the head cabin on the hill.”

“Wait! I- I don’t know where that is.” He replied quietly.

Baekhyun wasn’t the type to help people with simple tasks. He was more of the saving people from deadly titans and cyclops types of guys. Somehow, he felt a little bad for leaving the newbie to wander on his own. Most of all, he feared the demigod would leave the camp premises onto the outside world where monsters would figure out the secret position of their hidden camp. 

“Ah! You guys are back. Well, how’d it go, Chanyeol,” Alec slapped his back playfully.

Baekhyun stood vacant at the porch of his cabin, tapping his foot restlessly, waiting to be dismissed.

“It was kind of okay. I’m not really that good at shooting arrows.” Chanyeol admitted.

The demi-god who was more than done with a day’s worth of human interaction turned to leave but was stopped when he saw a figure approaching the cabin. Junmyeon was the many faces that he wanted to plaster on his arrow target.

He glanced at Baekhyun for a moment before turning towards the newbie, “I heard we got the son of Zues at the camp now!” He exclaimed, maybe a little louder than needed.

Chanyeol nervously smiled, bowing his head slightly to the stranger.

“I’m Junmyeon, pleasure to meet you. Son of Poseidon.” He winks.

Baekhyun bites his lip, watching his sworn enemy kindly interacting with people. Of course that was the opposite when it came to him. Someone needed to hold him back before he jumped the man every single time. 

“I hope Baekhyun wasn’t too cruel.” He leaned into his head, barely making it a whisper.

Baekhyun could only stand there idly, wanting so badly to run up and upper cut the water user.

Chanyeol waved his arms around in protest, “No! No of course not! He was...helpful.” He nodded quickly.

Junmyeon scrunched his nose as if he knew something no one else did. Perhaps he did. The son of the big three was the most arrogant out there. He had seething dull blue eyes that always seemed to threaten Baekhyun everytime they were in each others presence.
 

“Lover boy? Helpful? Sounds like a dream.” Posiden’s son says with a taunting voice.

“Alright, I’m going to kill him-” Baekhyun unsheathes his dagger from his back pocket.

Alec' voice bellows deeply, stopping Baekhyun’s arm just in time from hitting the demi-gods throat. All in the while, Chanyeol had his eyes wide open in shock.

Perhaps this wasn’t a good impression to be giving the new camper.

“Enough! What have I told you time and time again Baekhyun! This animalistic behaviour is unacceptable! Back to your cabin.” He points a finger at to the right.

Junmyen rubs his neck in slight pain, but his eyes say that he’s won. 

Baekhyun couldn’t be more than happy to leave. He wanted nothing more than to cut out the son of Poseidon’s voice box so he wouldn’t have to hear that ridiculous name he called him. Lover boy. It made him want to rip open his insides. It made him think about his wretched mother who didn’t have a care in the world for him. If gods were so powerful why couldn’t they turn back time and make him the son of some other god. Any god.  

He imagined in his dreams of being the son of Ares. He had always envied Kyungsoo. How much power his father's name held in contrast to his mothers. Prestige aside, Baekhyun had heard Aries treated his children like gold. He had met Kyungsoo a few times even, treated him to a meal. 

While his mother...he laid the issue to rest, not wanting it to infest his thoughts.

He only had one goal this year, and that was to be on a quest. 

He opened the cabin door and was greeted by his half siblings (all of which were girls). 

“Did you see the cute Zeus kid Baek?”

“He was so tall!” Seulgi squealed.

“Who cares, don’t you guys have anything better to do?” He flops onto his bed again, trying to close his eyes to try and forget his clouding thoughts.

He crept into a deep sleep hoping a new day would make him feel better.