6, 734 words of  weirdness, violent Soo and creepy LuLu 

~oOo0oOo0oOo~

Summer was in the air. Though it was only morning, the temperature was very warm, signaling a scorching day ahead. In a sweaty daze Jongin stumbled off his bunk-bed onto the floor in a heap, only to get kicked by one of his fellow Hermes cabin inmates.

“Oi, get up kkamjong,” Taemin, his bunk bed buddy, said, grinning as he prodded the mass of limbs with his toe. “Inspection’s today, remember? Up, up, up!”

Jongin responded with a string of unintelligible grunts before dragging himself up from his very comfortable spot on the hard cabin floor. 

“Right, inspection,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Taemin snickered before manhandling him out the door, heading towards the dining pavilion, where the rest of their cabin was already gathered. Still half-asleep, Jongin shuffled his way to the food, mindlessly dropping some bread and grapes onto his plate. As per usual, he pushed the best piece of food into the bonfire, woozily mumbling his prayers.

Yeah, dad, I’d really appreciate not getting eaten by ugly beasties anytime soon, and please keep Baekhyun away from my eyes, I really don’t fancy him drawing on my face like a whiteboard. Also, if possible, can you tell Tao to keep his fangirling to a minimum, I honestly don’t think there’s any more of 101 amazing facts of Kris Wu’s posterior that I can take before I attempt to throw myself into the lava pit. Thanks dad. Back to sleep. Zzzzzz…

After swallowing the last bite of breakfast, he wandered back to the Hermes cabin, going through his cleaning chores with all the attention and awareness of a zombie. After he shoved the last pile of clothes into his trunk, he wandered back outside. He didn’t really want to stay and be lectured by Luhan, Aphrodite’s counselor who was in charge of inspections today. Luhan always said Jongin was about as tidy as a toddler who hadn’t been potty-trained. Jongin decided to escape a boring lecture and headed for the stables.

He’d lived at Camp Half-Blood for five years, since he was twelve, as evidenced from the five glittering beads on his camper’s necklace. He had always been a problem child; ever since he was small he discovered he had an incredible aptitude for sneaking into places he shouldn’t have been able to sneak into, like locked bathrooms, his step-father’s car, and bank vaults to name a few. His mother had a lot of work and little time for him, and in a plea for attention he stole a small keychain from a dollar store.

Then he stole again, and again, and again. Of course, he always returned everything with nice little notes saying things along the lines of “I’m really sorry for stealing your stuff, please don’t kill me :c”, but the shop keepers, restaurant owners, car dealers, and bank tellers really didn't care much for his apologies. Finally, he was diagnosed as a “kleptomaniac”, a person with an obsessive desire to steal, and when he turned ten he was shipped off to a correctional facility by his exasperated mother.

A year and a half later aforementioned correctional facility was nothing more than ashes on the ground, courtesy of a couple of grumpy drakon. A group of three strange teenagers weapons of various design showed up, bashed the overgrown fire-breathing lizards a couple times over the head, and proceeded to tell the shrieking mortals to shut up. They told Jongin they were half Greek god and half human, and that he, Kim Jongin, was a half-blood too.

Jongin thought they were crazy until one of them decided it’d be a great idea to turn one of the smoking pieces of shrapnel to ice.

The leader of the group, a tall, serious blonde, introduced himself as Kris Wu, son of Zeus. He fought with a double-handed sword (which he wielded with only one hand, that cheating bastard), and could fly like a very large and -faced bird. The second member of the group was a nice boy with auburn hair, who immediately pulled Jongin aside and healed the smoking burns on his arm. His name was Zhang Yixing, son of Apollo, and he didn’t have a weapon because he didn’t fight. He chose instead to run around after other people who did fight, healing them of the nasty oos that inevitably came from whacking each other with  pointed objects. The third, the one who ing turned a blazing fire into a glittering piece of glacier (even now, five years later, Jongin is careful to never get on his bad side), was Xiumin, one of the few and most powerful sons of Hecate. He fought with a pair of heavy Chinese hammers, and wielded them with ease despite looking like a cute kid who escaped from his pre-school.

Jongin decided that if being a demigod meant waving dangerous stuff around and generally being cool (because damn Kris looked like he popped out of one of Jongin’s stolen and returned shounen manga), then hell yes, sign him up please!

And he’d lived at Camp Half-Blood ever since. He made a lot of friends in his time at the demigod training camp, such as Oh Sehun, a son of Zeus who arrived only a few days after him. Though he, like his brother, Kris, was tall, blonde, handsome, and rarely seen without a look of utter disdain that generally discouraged social interaction, Jongin found out that behind that sour face was a complete and utter crybaby. Sehun grinned like a little kid and laughed at everything like one, and his huge crush on Aphrodite’s counselor was Jongin’s favorite source of amusement. They quickly became best friends and sparring partners, and could be found past sunset dueling with their swords.

There was also Huang Zitao, or Tao, as everyone called him, a tall, intimidating black-haired wushu master from the Hecate cabin (he could also make time stop for a couple of seconds at a time, lucky duck). He was a classy diva with the sass level of over 9000, and was so obsessed with fashion many campers believed that Hecate and Aphrodite had decided to switch kids. He was also one of the best fighters in the camp; one would often find him chasing after problematic monsters carrying his wushu stick in one hand and a cup of Starbucks in the other, and when he returned his chic hipster glasses and designer Gucci jacket would be immaculate as ever. He also had a not-so-secret crush on Kris, and often Sehun and Jongin would find themselves subjected to lectures on why Kris Wu was “such a ing bastard, how dare he look so y while wearing old jeans and a ripped t-shirt, I will make him mine”, a past-time that often left Jongin and Sehun in tears, though for very different reasons (Jongin from laughter, Sehun from utter disgust: “That’s my brother you’re talking about, I think I’m going to puke!”)

Then there were Luhan and Byun Baekhyun from Aphrodite cabin. Baekhyun was, like Tao, a diva, with an obsession with eyeliner and all things makeup. He was loud and noisy and a huge gossip, and could often be found in the company of a certain Hephaestus cabin camper wrecking havoc anywhere and everywhere. His curly brown hair was always perfect, his eyes expertly lined with black, and he would not hesitate to pilfer every one of the campers’ deepest and darkest secrets for the sake of some amusing tittle-tattle. Luhan, the Aphrodite counselor, was a beautiful blonde who was just as hyperactive as his brother, though far more intimidating in Jongin’s eyes. Luhan, despite his loudness, was very perceptive, and could read peoples’ emotions and relationships with such accuracy that his favorite hobby became match-making, and he began a sneaky campaign of making his every single one of his “ships sail”. He didn’t have one ship, or two; he had a whole ing invincible armada, and Jongin had yet to see one of Luhan’s “ships” sink.

Yixing, the healer who had come to retrieve Jongin, became one of Jongin’s closest friends immediately, because he loved to dance and because he seemed to be one of the few sane people there. Another one of the rare few who Jongin dared to deem “normal” was Suho, the only son of Poseidon. Despite being the son of the god of the ocean, Suho was rather pale and didn’t look anything like a surfer until he took his shirt off—that boy had abs that could grate cheese—and was really sweet and kind. He and Yixing had a guileless vibe that always led them to spoiling their friends like doting parents would spoil their kids, and it didn’t hurt that Suho was absolutely loaded.

Kim Jongdae, or “Chen”, as his friends called him, was the pride of the Athena cabin. Though his hair was more caramel than blonde, there was no doubt he was the child of the goddess of wisdom. His grey eyes were always glinting with a hint of mischief, and though he acted like a gentleman, he wouldn’t hesitate to dissect people with his words. The only ones who were safe from his steel tongue were Xiumin, Suho, and Yixing, the former for reasons unknown and the latter two because they were just so nice Chen would be guilt-tripped into feeling bad.

Park Chanyeol was another one of Jongin’s good friends, and the partner-in-crime of Aphrodite’s eyelined terror. The boy was tall and gangly, unlike his stockier and more powerfully built siblings, with frizzy hair and a wide smile like a pyromaniac’s. The smile was fitting, because lo and behold, Chanyeol could set fire to things at will, an ability that was very useful in the forges but not as coveted in the woods. Chanyeol had gotten doused then dumped in the lake by angry naiads and dryads so many times that he had lost count, and stopped using his flaming ability during capture-the-flag. He and Baekhyun were always found somewhere on campus wrecking havoc, and they became Camp Half-blood’s Terrible Two.

As Jongin entered the stables, he smiled fondly to himself. This place was his home now, and his new friends his family. He couldn’t be happier; fighting monsters, training, learning things about the world of the Greek gods, this was what he was meant to do. When he was in the mortal world, he’d felt like he didn’t belong, and now here, in Camp Half-blood, he had finally found a home.

Grinning, he headed to the back of the stables, where his favorite pegasus lay asleep in his stable. He had named him Monggu Jr after his beloved pet dog that he had left behind when he was sent to the correctional facility. Though Monggu Jr wasn’t chocolate brown, fluffy, or squishable like Monggu was, the pegasus still wormed his way into Jongin’s heart.

“Hey, Monngu Jr,” Jongin said, tickling the pegasus under his chin. “Let’s go for a ride, okay? If you laze around like this all day you’re going to get fat. You don’t want that happening, right?”

The pegasus peeked one eye open at him, blinking, before getting up, shaking straw from his hide. Jongin fastened the saddle before mounting, and Monggu Jr trotted out of the stable, his ivory wings fluttering.

“You’re a good boy, who’s a good boy,” Jongin cooed, the pegasus’ powerful neck. “Fly well today, and I’ll bring you some sugar cubes, okay? Now let’s go boy!”

With a neigh, Monggu Jr pushed off from the grown, his incredible wings unfolding. They beat the air with strong , and soon the pegasus and his rider were soaring through the air, the wind whipping at their faces. They dipped and turned, spiraled and glided, a streaking blotch of white against the bright blue sky. From his vantage point high up in the air Jongin could see everything in the camp, the omega shape the cabins formed and the demigods wandering around, the shimmering lake, the pine tree on the hill, the Golden Fleece glittering in its branches. There was the Big House, with its baby blue paint and white trim, and the archery field, where the Apollo and Ares cabins were practicing. Two figures were scrambling up the climbing wall, laughing maniacally, Baekhyun and Chanyeol judging from the sound of it. Jongin could see Suho and Yixing canoeing in the lake; more accurately, Yixing was studying a book, most likely one on magical herbs and their uses, while Joonmyun swam in the crystal clear water, propelling the canoe forward occasionally. The smell of the baking strawberry fields was faint on the wind. Smoke was puffing out of the forges, and Athena cabin was headed for the armory, no doubt in preparation for another bout of grueling training. The forest was as shady and gigantic as ever, and when Monngu Jr swung particularly close, Jongin could see the shapes of monsters, demigods, and dryads moving through the trees.

After what felt like only a few minutes Jongin finally landed, only to discover that a couple of hours had passed. It was nearly lunchtime, and after feeding Monngu Jr his much coveted sugar cubes, Jongin dashed off to the dining pavilion. Today was Friday, and Friday meant capture-the-flag. And capture-the-flag meant opportunities to get escape chores and settle personal vendettas.

The dining pavilion had been split into two sides; facing the south, a red flag was streaming, with the flags of Ares, Aphrodite, Zeus, Hephaestus, Apollo, Demeter, Dionysus, Iris, Hypnos, Hebe, and Tyche beneath. At the north, a blue flag waved, along with the flags of Athena, Poseidon, Hermes, Nemesis, Nike, and Hecate.

There were only sixteen flags out of the seventeen that should be present. Three of the twenty cabins, Hera, Artemis, and Hestia, were unable to participate because they were empty due to the fact these goddesses had no demigod children, but there was still one missing.

Hades.

Frowning, Jongin jogged through to the Northern side of the forest, until he came to the clearing where the Blue team’s counsel was being held.  Chen, Changmin, Athena’s counselor, and Jaejoong, head counselor of Hecate, were spreading a large parchment diagram on the ground. At the edge of the clearing, a blue flag with a symbol of an owl fluttered in the breeze. This flag would be the one their team would be protecting.

“Where’s the Hades cabin?” he asked, and Chen shrugged, his shrewd grey eyes flickering across the ink drawings.

“No one knows where Kyungsoo is,” Tao said as he inspected his nails. “And you know how everyone is around him.”

Jongin did know. Do Kyungsoo, the only known son of Hades, the god of the Underworld, was an enigma. Despite Hades’ involvement in the Great War a century ago on the side of the Olympians, the dark lore about his children had yet to disappear. Very few campers had ever seen Kyungsoo, and made up for their lack of interactions with whispered rumors. Jittery campers said he was eight feet tall, as pale as a vampire, and only came out at night. According to the whispered spooky tales at camp fires, he sacrificed the souls of fallen heroes in an attempt to resurrect his father in the world of mortals (Tao scoffed and said they were confusing Hades with Satan), and that his pallor was the result of never stepping foot in sunlight since the day he was born. Jongin, himself, had never seen Kyungsoo before, and wanted to dismiss the rumors as silly, but still, all stories had some truth behind them, right?

Sehun was frightened by the mention of Kyungsoo, though Tao turned his nose up at the stories.

“You guys are turning a creepy but squishy bunny into a serial killer,” the diva had always scoffed, flipping his hair.

Still, even if Kyungsoo did creep him out a bit, Jongin couldn’t help but feel sorry for the mysterious camper. It must , being so feared by everyone.

“Alright, let’s get down to it,” Changmin, clapping his hands sharply. Immediately everyone jolted to attention. “We’ve got a tough crowd to beat.”

Jaejoong pointed at the crude drawings of each of the flags of their opponents. “We’ve got the side of the woods closest to the beach. Apollo is great long range, so we’re going to have to be careful. Watch out for Junsu, he’s got a mean sonic arrow. It’s likely they’ll be taking the center, so anyone who tries the direct route will be pegged. That’s why Xiumin and I will be taking a group of five up that path. We’ll take care of the archers.” His hands sparked with a hint of fire and electricity.

“Ares is a cabin full of idiots, but they’ve got Zeus on their side,” Changmin continued. “Yunho, counselor of Zeus, and Kris both are pretty good strategists, so we won’t be having an easy time. We don’t have to worry too much about Hypnos, Hebe, and Tyche. I’d say they’ll be having some Aphrodite and Ares campers guarding their flag, though. Ares cabin is a good source of brawn, and Luhan’s charmspeak is a .”

“We’ll be sending three groups in total,” Chen said, pointing at three circles that were drawn. “Jaejoong and Xiumin will lead a group down the center of the forest. They’ll most likely deal with Apollo cabin. Suho, you’ll be guarding the creek. Stay hidden.”

Suho nodded in assent.

“Nike and Nemesis cabins, you take the north-western and south-eastern sides respectively. Don’t let anyone get past you,” Changmin said. “I’ll be taking a group down the right flank with a quarter of Athena cabin and a quarter of Hermes cabin. Chen will be taking a group of the same number down the left flank.” His shrewd gray eyes Tao. “Tao, you’ll be the only one guarding the flag in plain sight. You know what to do.” Tao grinned. “The remainder of the Athena cabin will be hiding in the woods, and they’ll ambush if needed. The rest of Hermes, stay close to the creek.”

Jaejoong and Changmin nodded at Chen, signaling him to continue. Chen smirked, turning his eyes on Jongin, and Jongin gulped. “Kkamjong, you’ve got a special job. What with your… special ability to pretty much poof anywhere unnoticed, you’ll also be trying to get the flag. Solo. You work best alone, after all.”

Jongin’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, don’t worry so much about it,” Jaejoong assured him. “All of us will be trying to get the flag, whoever gets it first gets it. But you’re such a sneaky guy, it wouldn’t hurt to see how you do solo. It’s only a trial run, if you will.”

“We’ll be nearby in case any of the big, bad Ares campers get you,” Chen teased, his eyes glinting. Jongin rolled his eyes.

“Always know what cabin you’re fighting against,” Changmin cautioned, pointing to each of the flag in turn. “It can give you an indication of their weaknesses and strengths.”

“Hephaestus campers are powerful and strong, but their speed isn’t nearly as impressive. They’ve got brains and they're not afraid to use them, though” Jaejoong agreed. “Ares cabin is a force to be reckoned with, but strategy can bring them down. And don’t ever underestimate the Zeus cabin. Kris can fly, Sehun can control some winds, and Yunho can summon small storms. It’s always best to attack them from afar.”

“And if you ever come near Aphrodite cabin, knock them out,” Chen added. “I know most of them don’t do anything but check their hair and gossip, but Luhan’s charmspeak can make you think taking bath in lava is a great idea, and Baekhyun’s yelling can pretty much make you deaf. Get taken prisoner by them and you’ll want to burn every Vogue magazine you see by the time you’re set free. It’s bad for the environment, kids, so don’t do it.”

“Alright everyone, got the battle plan?” Changmin demanded, and was answered with a resounding roar. “All right team, let’s hop to it!” 

~oOo0oOo0oOo~

“Why is it so ing hot,” Jongin grumbled as he tugged on his armor. It seemed that as the day neared late afternoon the temperature decided to sky-rocket, leaving all the campers a sweaty messes. Even though his armor was generally lighter than others, since his fighting style was more about speed then protection, the metal still felt like it weighed a thousand tons. The air felt muggy, and his hair stuck to his forehead, damp and gross.

“Oh, stop whining,” Tao said cheerfully as he twirled his Celestial bronze coated wushu stick. His muscles rippled as he stretched. He didn’t wear a helmet with a blue plume like most of his teammates, though his clothes were all blue in color.

“Easy for you to say,” Taemin grumbled as he, too, struggled with his armor. “You’re wearing a tank top and shorts.”

“Not my fault I don’t need protection like you peasants,” Tao said pleasantly. “Have fun running around! I’ll be here chilling like a villain.”

“He’s so lucky he’s can control time,” Taemin muttered as he and Jongin trudged off to their various divisions. “Seriously, how the does that work? Isn’t time Kronos’ thing?”

“Who knows,” Jongin sighed as he adjusted the strap on his shoulder. “Tao’s evil enough to be a Titan.”

“I can hear you, peasants~!” Tao sing-songed from behind them. “Move your derrieres along before I use them for target practice!”

Rolling his eyes, Taemin began jogging towards Changmin’s group, where the Athena counselor was swinging his flamberge back and forth. On the opposite side of the clearing, Chen twirled his spear, electricity crackling at the tip. Jaejoong was farthest in front with Minseok, the two Hecate campers passing a ball of magical ice back and forth while the campers in their group stayed a few paces back, wary of being turned into a snowman in summer. Suho was dressed in minimal armor, like Jongin, though he didn’t seem too bothered by the heat. He decided to forgo the plumed helmet, the clothes underneath his armor indicating the color of his team.

“Remember, kids!” Jaejoong hollered as he burst the sphere of ice in a shower of glittering crystals. “No killing or maiming, or you lose your dessert privileges for a week!”

“Don’t get set on fire, and don’t let anyone on the red team get past!” Chen added as he crouched, ready to begin the charge at a moment’s notice.

“Happy hunting, everyone!” Changmin called, and then the gong rung. There was an immediate explosion of roars, and the sound of metal clanking and pounding feet could be heard all throughout the forest.

As Jongin jogged carefully through the woods, he grumbled to himself. In all honesty, his “poofing”, as the head campers called it, wasn’t really a special ability. He was just really good at picking locks and causing things to open on whim (okay, that was probably because of his dad), and he was just generally good at sneaking around. This caused the other campers to declare that he “teleported”, not matter how much he protested.

He was skirting the very edges of the woods, which were rather quiet. The trees towered above him, gigantic from centuries of undisturbed growth. The late afternoon sun drifted through the trees. Though it created a nice, amber-like glow, it also burned like hell on Jongin’s exposed skin. Ugh, why the was it so hot today. Jongin felt like he was melting slowly, his epidermis boiling. What a great way to die. Kim Jongin, son of Hermes, defeated not by a hellhound, a Chimera, or an evil demigod, but by the ing heat.

What an unheroic way to die. Jongin scoffed as he pictured his epitaph.

Here lies Kim Jongin, son of Hermes, killed because his fragile skin couldn’t take a couple rays of sunshine. Go figure, he was probably the tannest of us all. May he rest in peace (at least he doesn’t have to listen to Byunbaek’s shrieking, that lucky bastard).

…Okay, so maybe he should live a little longer.

He continued his trek, wondering why it was so strangely quiet in this portion of the woods. This was oddly careless of the red team, leaving this part of the woods so unguarded. Anyone could get through—

Suddenly Jongin was yanked away, a hand covering his mouth. He was pulled to the side, and the ground beneath him seemed to crumble. He and his assailant tumbled down a small tunnel that seemed to have just appeared.

Oh, well. At least it was pretty cool down here.

“Are you stupid?” a soft and unfamiliar voice demanded. “If I didn’t pull you out of there you would’ve triggered a Greek fire trap!”

Jongin mumbled against the hand covering his mouth as his captor grumbled. “Honestly, did you think they would’ve left anywhere unguarded?”

Jongin was released, his companion still muttering uncomplimentary things under his breath. Though it was relatively dark in the hole, some gilded shafts of sunlight still filtered in. As he studied the demigod’s face in the weak lighting, he gulped in surprise. Despite the fact he had never seen this demigod before, Jongin immediately knew who he was.

…Well, he certainly wasn’t eight feet tall.

The boy opposite of him had ebony black hair and skin so pale it almost looked white, a stark contrast to his lips, which were plush and the color of pomegranate seeds. His dark, liquid eyes were both wide and rather confused looking, like an owl’s. He was dressed in all black, with a shirt that extended half-way across his arms, tight jeans, and combat boots. A thin and graceful sword was stabbed into the damp earth, though it wasn’t the color of regular Celestial bronze; it was midnight black.

The boy’s eyes narrowed, immediately going from adorably surprised—Jongin spluttered internally. Adorable?—to irritated and judgmental.

“It’s Stygian iron,” the boy said as he followed Jongin's stare, grasping the well-wrought handle and drawing the blade out of the ground. “It works just as well as Celestial bronze, if you want me to prove it.” The tip of the blade tapped Jongin’s thigh warningly.

“Uh, that won’t be necessary,” Jongin said quickly. Luckily, Kyungsoo removed his rapier Jongin’s leg, stabbing it back into the dirt. He kept casting wary glances back at Jongin, almost as if Jongin was a wild, unpredictable animal. He seemed a bit frustrated, and annoyed, judging from the pucker in his forehead.

He really wasn’t as scary as the other campers made him out to be. In fact, Jongin could swear that he had seen him before.

It was lights out in the cabins, but Jongin couldn’t sleep. He turned forlornly on his bed, his bunkmate Taemin snoring above him. He knew the rules. Kyuhyun, the nice if sneaky counselor of Hermes, had explained everything to when he arrived that morning, right after he had been claimed.

Though this place was awesome, Jongin couldn’t help but feel a little homesick.

Sighing, he crawled out of bed. There was no way he could sleep, not like this. Wearing nothing but a ratty t-shirt and baggy shorts, he snuck outside into the warm summer night. He headed towards the beach, where the dark waters glittered from the city lights. The slight ache in his chest, he settled into the soft sand, kicking up small dunes.

“Hey,” a voice said, and Jongin turned to see a small boy, maybe only a year older than him, standing next to him. It was suspicious, all right—a creepy kid randomly appearing next to you in the middle of the night? Probably a monster—but Jongin was feeling too crappy to care. “Can’t sleep?”

“Nope,” Jongin muttered as he drew his knees to his chest, pouting.

“First night here?” the boy said, his wide eyes understanding. Jongin nodded, and the boy patted him on the back sympathetically. “It’s okay, things will get better.” He smiled, his cheeks bunching up adorably. “Though you shouldn’t stay out here too long, the harpies are going to come and eat you.”

“You’re joking, right?” Jongin said incredulously, and the boy laughed.

“Nope,” he said cheerfully.”They're awful at cleaning up their messes, too. Here.” He pulled a small waterskin out of his pocket, offering it to Jongin. “I get insomnia a lot, so I drink chamomile tea. It’ll help.”

Jongin took a few gulps of the liquid. “Thank you,” he said gratefully, and the boy held his hand out to him. Jongin took it, and together they walked back through the dark to the Hermes cabin. When he turned around to say good night, the boy was gone.

Jongin had searched for the boy with wide eyes the next day, and the day after that, until he was convinced that the boy was nothing than a figment of his sleep-deprived imagination. But now here he was, sitting in front of him.

Kyungsoo was giving him a strange, almost baffled look. “You can leave, you know. I promise I’m not going to curse you or your firstborn.”

“You’re that boy from my first day here,” Jongin said, and Kyungsoo’s eyes widened almost comically. “Why don’t I ever see you at camp?”

The boy side-eyed him suspiciously before shrugging, kicking a couple of rocks with his foot. “I'm not wanted,” he said simply. When Jongin’s face immediately fell, he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to look like that. It’s not like I care.”

“Were you bullied?” Jongin asked tentatively, shifting around in his seat so he could face the Hades camper better. Once again, Kyungsoo scoffed, shaking his head.

“As if anyone here has the guts to face me in a fight,” he snickered, his soft lips pulling into a smirk. “Nope, everyone just avoided me.  They thought—still think, actually—that I’m going to sacrifice everyone to the powers of darkness. It didn't take long for me to get the hint,”  He looked up, accidentally catching Jongin’s eyes. “Seriously, you don’t need to cry me a river,” he said, laughing at the slightly teary look on Jongin’s face. “It’s not a sob story. People don’t like me, and I don’t really like people. It’s a win-win situation, honestly.” Once again, he eyed Jongin warily. “And why exactly do you care? You’ve got more than enough friends now, Kim Jongin.”

His name falling from Kyungsoo’s lips had a pleasant feeling, and Jongin couldn’t help but grin. The feeling of unease between them seemed to dissipate like morning mist in the sun. The son of Hades was everything dark and emo, but he wasn’t threatening in the least. Kind of like a creepy bunny, like Tao said. “Well, Do Kyungsoo,” he teased, and Kyungsoo stiffened at the sound of his name,” is it a crime to worry about a friend?”

“We’re not friends,” Kyungsoo said, rolling his eyes and bringing his fingers up to make sarcastis quotation mark signs. “Hello, I’m the personification of all that is sinful and evil. I will murder you in your sleep and sacrifice your entrails to the dark lord before cursing every single living and non-living thing in this camp. Shouldn’t you be running away, screaming your head off?”

Jongin’s grin widened. “Maybe I might have, if you were even the slightest bit threatening. You’re like a cute voodoo bunny.” With a sudden bout of stupidity and courage, he reached forward and pinched one of those adorable chubby cheeks.

The look of complete shock on Kyungsoo’s face was well worth it.

Jongin didn’t really know what happened. He had started the day believing Do Kyungsoo was a eight-foot tall satanic vampire who refused to step in sunlight for fear of being reduced to ashes, and now, as the day slowly approached evening, he knew that Do Kyungsoo was in fact a five-foot-and-eight-inches tall (ha, that shorty, Jongin was almost six feet) eighteen year old demigod who refused to step in sunlight because his delicate skin sun-burned very easily. He was sarcastic and quick-witted, despite looking like a child, and enjoyed verbally prodding holes into Jongin. He was obsessed with cleanliness and color-coded his clothes in a monochrome spectrum of black, gray, and white. He loved cooking, so he was often in the kitchen where no camper dared to venture, cooking alongside the harpies. The harpies didn’t care if he was the son of the god of death or the son of the god of pink fluffy unicorns; to them, he was just a demigod and potential meal if he misbehaved. He loved Poroporo because of a childhood obsession, and he wanted one day to go to a mortal zoo to see the penguin exhibits.

It was surprisingly easily to talk to him, almost like they had known each other for their whole lives. As they chucked words back and forth, Jongin couldn’t help but think that though his life at Camp Half-blood had been amazing thus far, he was still severely missing out.

“Join my team for capture-the-flag,” he said suddenly, cutting off Kyungsoo’s rambling about the wonders of aquatic avians. Kyungsoo pursed his lips.

“Jongin, you know I’ll just freak the hell out of everyone. Besides, I’m fine the way things are now. There’s no reason for me to change it.”

Jongin frowned as he inched closer. “Doesn’t it get lonely, being by yourself? That’s why you talked to me that night, right?”

On a whim, he reached out and grabbed Kyungsoo’s hand. The son of Hades didn’t move an inch, gazing resolutely out into the forest.

“You wanted to talk to someone who wouldn’t judge you, didn’t you?”

Kyungsoo still didn’t say anything. Amber light fell onto his face, the lashes that framed his pretty eyes looking soft and silky. 

“Hey,” Jongin said, smiling as he held their entwined hands up. “We can make this work, right? Nothing’s going to change overnight, but you never know if you don’t try. It’s going to take some time, but we’ll convince all those idiots that you are not, in fact, interested in bringing about the Apocalypse.”

“Keep talking to me and I might be,” Kyungsoo muttered, though his lips twitched in a smile. He sighed, glancing at their hands, where Jongin’s tanned skin pressed against his. “You’re such a sap, Jongin, I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this. However,” he said warningly as he got up, yanking his rapier out of the dirt, “if any idiot campers come at me with sharpened stakes and their weapons doused in holy water, it’s your job to drive them off, got it?”

“As you command, princess,” Jongin laughed as he too, got up. “Let’s go kick some .”

Kyungsoo was a one man army, Jongin decided as he chased after the son of Hades, and a bit too comfortable on the battlefield. He moved incredibly fast for his size, sneaking past a patrol of Hephaestus campers like a shadow. From the clamor of fighting ringing through the forests, Jongin knew the game was far from over. Monsters left them well alone after a poisonous scorpion decided to confront them; Kyungsoo brandished his blade, and the monster immediately skedaddled (“Perks of having a Stygian iron weapon,” Kyungsoo said cheerfully). The few individual red team campers they came across were quickly subdued, the Hades camper not looking the least remorseful as his most recent victim, a camper from Dionysus, crumpled at his feet.

“No maiming,” Jongin said uselessly as Kyungsoo smirked at him. “Did you have to knock him out?”

“My bad,” Kyungsoo hummed, looking like he was having the time of his life. “I haven’t had this much fun in ages.”

“See, if you leave your hermit life and rejoin society, you will get to bully people every Friday instead of waiting for innocent demigods to wander into your clutches,” Jongin teased, grinning at the look of childish excitement on Kyungsoo’s face.

“That’s always a plus,” Kyungsoo agreed gleefully. “Now, which way is it to that precious square of fabric that everyone’s fighting over? Can it be that lovely blotch of red over yonder?”

Jongin turned and yes, indeed, that was the coveted red flag. Without a moment of hesitation Kyungsoo was running towards it, despite Jongin’s protests.

“Wait, it’s probably a trap—“

A cold blade pressed against his neck. “Why yes, it is a trap,” Luhan whispered into his ear as he dug his dagger into soft skin. “I didn’t think I’d find you here all by your lonesome, Jonginnie. Don’t struggle now, there’s a good boy.”

The panicked shouts of his teammates brought Luhan’s attention away from his captive. A burly Ares camper ran up to him, his face worried. “That boy-he just-the flag—“

“What,” Luhan snarled, his eyes narrowing.

“He just disappeared!” the Ares camper was babbling. “He got to the flag but we were just about to stop him, and then suddenly the earth just opened and he was gone—“

Luhan shrieked, releasing his hold on Jongin. “Well, go find him!” the Aphrodite counselor snarled as they abandoned their stations, charging into the forest. “Stop him!”

Jongin watched in bemusement as they disappeared. There was a laugh, and Jongin whirled around to find Kyungsoo perched on a boulder, the long pole of the red flag resting on his shoulder.

“You are something else,” Jongin said, shaking his head, and Kyungsoo smirked impishly in return.

They ended up charging through the forest, accidentally bursting through a battle between Chen’s group and a group of enemy campers. After getting over their initial surprise, the blue team flanked them, covering their retreat. It became nothing more than a heated blur of bronze and gray, and somewhere along their mindless rush for the creek Kyungsoo’s small hand slipped into Jongin’s. Then they were crossing the creek in a cacophony of shouts and crashing water, and as they made it across the other side, the red flag shimmered before turning midnight black, a white skull threading itself across the fabric.

People reacted far better than Jongin had hoped at the celebratory dinner, though the Ares campers had whined that technically Kyungsoo hadn’t been part of the blue team before the games started until the festivities quickly drowned them out. Despite Jongin’s unvoiced fear that it would take a long time for the campers to get used to Kyungsoo, most of them accepted him with relative ease. Luhan, for his part, had launched himself across the dining pavilion to at his cheeks, squealing “They’re so soft, they’re almost as good as baozi’s!” Chen and Changmin congratulated him on his impressive battle prowess, Chen even staying behind to chat with him for a bit. Not too soon after Chen had returned to his cabin that Chanyeol and Baekhyun immediately accosted Kyungsoo with a combination of loud yelling, rigorous arm shaking, and playful promises of revenge. Tao, dragging a shaking Sehun behind him, congratulated Kyungsoo on his victory, forcing  a trembling Sehun to do the same, much to Kyungsoo's amusement.

Jongin, however, outdid everyone’s expectations and sat with Kyungsoo during dinner, despite the fact that it was against camp rules to sit with people other than your cabinmates. This became a source of gossip for all the watching campers, and it perked Luhan’s interest in particular.

After dinner the campers converged in amphitheatre around the blazing camp fire. As everyone began roaring songs out of tune and toasting marshmallows, Jongin pulled Kyungsoo into one of the back corners of the auditorium, where they settled in the shadows, a stolen bag of puffy white sweets in Jongin’s hands.

“Socializing with organic life forms isn’t that bad, is it?” Jongin said as he fed Kyungsoo bits of marshmallow. Even from here the firelight was bright enough that he could trace every feature of Kyungsoo’s face, his wide eyes, his button nose, his soft mouth. For the second time that day, Jongin gave in to his urges, leaning forward to swallow Kyungsoo’s response in a kiss.

Kyungsoo tasted sweet with a hint of tanginess, like the ruby red seeds of a pomegranate.

~oOo0oOo0oOo~

After escorting Kyungsoo back to his cabin and indulging in some rather heated activities (Jongin was an idiot, if it was hot before, it was now a ing inferno, and damn Kyungsoo's tongue wasn't gifted just verbally) Jongin headed back to the Hermes cabin, ready to endure some relentless teasing and questioning from Taemin.

What he found, however, was a thousand times worse.

“Hello there, Romeo,” a soft voice lilted, and Luhan emerged from the shadows, an absolutely filthy -eating grin on his lips. “Just back from a midnight romancing?” He chuckled evilly at the stricken look on Jongin’s face. “I must say, you and Kyungsoo are just adorable. As some online fangirls might say,” he cooed, leaning closer, “I ship. Ta-ta, Jonginnie, KaiSoo’s now the main powerhouse of my armada~!”

The Aphrodite counselor disappeared into the night, cackling maniacally to himself, no doubt planning a thousand and one scandalous scenarios in which he could trap his new OTP in. Oh boy, Luhan thought gleefully to himself, the possibilities were endless.

Kim Jongin, you better watch out. 

~oOo0oOo0oOo~

A/N: Why yes Lulu, I agree, I ship. 

Kyungsoo's characterization in this fic is just *chokes* Take a look at the pic I posted at the bottom, it should explain a looooooot omg

I'm sorry my version of capture-the-flag is not consistent with Percy Jackson's. It's been a while since I last read the books, so I don't quite remember how it works. I do know, however, that I added in the pavillion and flags part to make it clear which cabins were allied with which. Anyway, I hope you guys like my attempt at a PercyJackson!Au fanfic. :3 Please comment and say what you thought, I'd really appreciate it!

P.S. If anyone's wondering why I placed the EXO boys in their various cabins, just drop a comment with the question and I'll be happy to give you my reasoning! :)