“What do you think, Buddy?” Chanyeol asks his puppy as he stands back to admire the golden brass cage that he has been diligently making for the past two hours using the  plates that his Mother stored away in somewhere of the garage. The method of crafting such cage was arduous - having to use an old, worn-out stove in the garage instead of his inhuman and godly powers.

The cage stood as tall and twice as wide as Chanyeol, bars an inch thick and just few inches apart, fixed in a manner that gave the cage its perfect half-spherical shape which can contain five people at most. The base was flat and covered with a layer of fine wool and cotton – a perfect place to sleep in, and a single dream catcher adorned with fragments of jasper cherts and quartz hung from the top of the cage.

Being the son of Olympus’ most outstanding blacksmith, Chanyeol always finds the desire to tinker and play with any type of machinery or craft uncontrollable; it’s like a second nature to him, something that runs through his blood, and has been etched into his mind the moment he opened his eyes to the world.

Chanyeol continues to stand there, his weight resting on his right foot, right hip jutting out to the side as he slightly tilts his head to the side in thought. He rubs his chin in concentration and he furrows his brows as he tries to find any flaw in his design and carpentry, only to find none. Chanyeol nods in contentment and self-appraisal for his masterpiece as he wipes his dirt-covered face and arms with a clean cloth.

“I’ve really outdone myself.” Chanyeol smiles as he walks around the gold structure one more time before finally announcing a break from the garage.

“Come on, Buddy! Let’s get something to eat.” Chanyeol beckons to his pup as he heads for the door which leads to the kitchen.

“Mom! Can I have a snack? I’m starving!” Chanyeol calls out, only to be greeted by silence. He looks around the house in confusion and ends up back in the kitchen, finally noticing the small yellow sticky note on the fridge.

“Off to do some grocery shopping. There’s a slice of Blueberry pie in the refrigerator.

                                                                                                                                Love always,
                                                                                                                                          Mom”

Chanyeol finds himself smiling at his Mother’s simple note before finally raiding the refrigerator, pulling out the blue-filled pie and a can of orange juice. Chanyeol brings his plate of dessert to the living room, managing to pull out one of the doggy treats from the cupboard along the way. He settles down on the couch with his pup climbing to sit next to him, doggy treats in paw, as Chanyeol turns the television on and flips through the channels.

“Aish! Why are there no good shows at this time?!” Chanyeol complains to no one in particular as he continues to scan through all ninety channels, finally stopping at a basketball game which seemed to be at the height of the tournament. Chanyeol puts the remote down and leans back as he keeps his eyes on the television while eating the pie at the same time. He wasn’t certain as to what teams were playing since the broadcast was in Chinese, so he settles for just watching the game. The sound of the buzzer signals the end of the quarter and Chanyeol grins as he sees the score, 69 – 53, in favor of the team he has randomly chosen to cheer on.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” He exclaims in excitement as he fist pumps the air, surprising the pup beside him. Chanyeol settles back in his seat as the advertisements start to roll in, only to feel his seat become uncomfortable as he watches the ad model in the television.

'Luhan.'

Luhan smiles at the camera while holding a bouquet of flowers, eyes smiling so charmingly as he walks through the park while holding the hand of a girl whose face was left to be unseen. Luhan then stops and turns to the girl, opening his mouth to sa-

Click.

The channel changed. Chanyeol drops the remote by his side as he watches two slugs crawling past each other while the narrator spoke something about how slow they were due to biological reasons and blah blah that Chanyeol didn’t really pay attention to. He just continues to stare at the show, no matter how utterly boring it is, as long it doesn’t involve a certain deer-eyed boy that goes by the name of Luhan.

Bark! Bark!

Chanyeol looks to his side to see his pup barking at him while trying to press on the remote with its little paws. Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrow in confusion as to what the pup was doing when it suddenly changed the channel and happily barked at the sight of Luhan’s flawless face in the screen, shocking him to no end.

“For the love of all things mechanical and- Buddy! Give me back the remote, goddamit!” Chanyeol shouts as the pup runs away with the remote in its mouth. Chanyeol curses under his breath as he tries to look for his pet, eager to change the channel so he won’t be able to hear that cherub’s voice.

“Buddy! Give me back the remote!” Chanyeol shouts as he looks under the table and behind the cabinets. He hears the volume of the television get louder and he stomps his way back to the living room to see his pup sitting comfortably on the couch, black-beaded eyes glued to the screen of a singing Luhan.

'Oh, so he sings now too?'

Chanyeol snatches the remote from the pup and lowers the volume and glares, only to be ignored for Luhan’s dialogue. Chanyeol lets out a string of mental curses as he plops down next to his ­loyal pup and glares at the screen. 'That is one in’ long advertisement.' He makes a move to change the channel when a bark signals him to stop and Chanyeol can’t help but groan and bury his face in the armrest of the couch. He turns his head, just in time to see Luhan wink before the screen goes black – signaling the end of the advertisement. 'Finally.'

Chanyeol straightens in his seat as he the logo of the basketball game flashed in the screen. 'Now this is worth watching!' He shouts out his support for the leading team as the game begins, standing up as if he was in the bleachers of the stadium itself, and fist pumping the air ever so often.

“Yeah! Boom, baby! That’s what I’m talking about!” He screams in excitement, only to freeze with his fist in the air when a loud clattering noise resonates from upstairs. Chanyeol looks at his pup in silence when the clatter repeated. He dashes up the stairs, the pup trailing behind him, and heads for the source of the noise. His room.

Chanyeol takes a deep breath, hand on the knob, before violently opening his door and shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Freeze! Don’t move! This is the po-”

Chanyeol stopped midway his statement when he sees his room in a mess - chairs and tables overturned, curtains in shreds, but the most surprising of all is the fiery red-feathered bird perching on top of his bed, blankets crumpled to form what seems like a nest. Chanyeol’s eyes wander to the side of the room where he placed the box he received earlier and as if confirming his guess, the box was lying on the floor in the same spot where he had left it…

In shreds.

Chanyeol stares at the pale blonde kid then at the box then back at the kid. He opens his mouth to say something then closes it again, choosing to point at the box then to himself and the kid nods in understanding.

“F-for me? From m-my dad?” Chanyeol finally speaks, stuttering. A package from his Father. His Father.

A God.

“Are y-you sure?” Chanyeol asks as the blonde boy slowly pushes the box towards him and hands him a clipboard.

“Sign here, here, and…. here. And yes, I’m sure that it’s from your Father… son of Hephaestus.”

Chanyeol stares at the boy, his eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets, when he heard the words.

“H-how’d you-” Chanyeol stutters again. No mere mortal knows of the existence of the Gods, nor of their demigod off springs. To the eye of the people on Earth, the Greek Gods are nothing more than fiction – a creation of the imaginative mind. For someone to know that he is a son of a God, this person must be…

“Oh Sehun, son of Hermes, at your service.” The boy, Sehun, says with a small bow and smile.

Another demigod like him.

Chanyeol’s worries dissipate as he stares at Sehun. He wants to ask more questions, maybe something about his dad, but before he can voice out, Sehun takes the clipboard from him and bids farewell, saying something about school and deadlines, and… yeah.

When Sehun has left, Chanyeol finds himself staring at the box by his feet. He slowly rips off the gold tape that is only used for very ‘special’ deliveries, to be honest, it’s his first time seeing gold, shiny tape. The thought of his Father makes Chanyeol grin from ear to ear because despite the fact that he has only seen the man on special holidays when he was young, those visits proved to be something that Chanyeol will always treasure.

Chanyeol’s brows furrow as he stares at the bright red circular rock wrapped around a thick layer of wool and cloth. He takes it out of the box and stares at it in amazement, admiring the gold intricate that designed it. Chanyeol holds it up for further inspection, thinking that it looks so similar to an egg.

“What kind of egg rock is this?” He chuckles. Chanyeol places the rock-slash-egg back in the box when he notices a parchment.

“To my Son,

            Take care of this egg for it will aid you in the very near future. Always be careful and forever happy. I wish the best for you, my son. Take care.

            Remember, a Phoenix decides its Master by heart, not by power. You should earn its trust first before being able to bond with it.

                                                                                                                                            H.”

Chanyeol reads the short letter again, and again, and again, before breaking into his widest grin. His Father has sent him the best present ever.

A Phoenix egg.

Chanyeol murmurs incoherent words as he slumps down the couch, face and arms sporting a few scratches and bruises. As soon as common sense kicked in and he realized that the bird nestling on his bed was the Phoenix, Chanyeol did the most stupid thing no son of Hephaestus has ever did.

He grabbed the Phoenix.

And as soon as he did, it started going wild, erupting into flames and squawking at his face as he tried to calm it down. Heck, Chanyeol thought he could communicate with the small bird because they were both masters of fire, but no, Chanyeol forgot the note his Father left him.

Earn its trust first.

He forgot that fire birds don’t like being touched by strangers.

'Nice first impression, Park.'

In the end, Chanyeol had to leave his room as the bird literally glared at him before hurling a baseball-size fireball in his face. So much for bonding. He lets a dejected look paint his face as he walks towards the garage to get his mood up… even for just a bit.

His gaze instantly lands on the cage and an idea pops up in his head. 'Of course!' He hurriedly lifts the cage up, despite its gigantic size and carries it towards his room.

'Operation Get The Phoenix To Like Me is on the go.'

Chanyeol silently opens the door to his room and peeks in to see the bird sleeping soundly in a sea of blankets and pillows. Carefully, he places the cage in the corner near the foot of his bed and arranges a makeshift nest out of pillow feathers and wool inside it. He places a plate of crackers in the cage before he carefully tiptoes out of his room, momentarily glancing back to see if the bird awakened to scratch his eyes out, before shutting the door as silently as he could when he saw its eyes still closed.

Hopefully, the little fire bird will find Chanyeol’s small effort endearing.