#time mystical time :) cutting me open then healing me fine :) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cafeseoulmate · 2 years

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Kang Taehyun’s Hot Boy Summer Destiny

time, mystical time cutting me open, then healing me fine. were there clues i didn't see?

featuring: child of athena!taehyun x child of apollo!gn!reader

genre: fluff, angst, pjo / greek mythology / demigod au, childhood best friends to lovers, idiots to lovers au, soulmate au, slowburn, mutual pining

wc: 14k

warnings and other notes: cursing, blood, injuries, graphic mentions of murder, alcohol consumption, charmspeak, insecurities, cliche upon cliche upon cliche, reader is a psychic

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you gave your childhood best friend, Kang Taehyun the son of Athena, an elaborate hot boy summer makeover in a span of two months and had him meet his soulmate at the Summer’s End bonfire. It came to you just last week, the same night you dreamt about the quest you sent your half-sibling Hueningkai in the other day and how exactly you will slay the minotaur terrorizing the camp borders right now—which is why you can confirm, as a child of Apollo, that it was a very much prophetic and bound to happen soon.

“Apparently, I gave you a wardrobe update, a haircut, and introduced you to some Aphrodite and Hermes kids under the half moon—watch out!” You continue to explain as you lure the bull-headed monster further away from the camp gate, dragging Taehyun by the arm and picking up speed when the beast swings its ax exactly as you remember in your dreams. “So what do you think?”

You then aim your crossbow at the minotaur’s ankles as Taehyun instructed you earlier, shooting it with a specialized poisoned arrow. As expected, it takes a moment before the poison takes effect for a beast as large as the minotaur, effectively paralyzing it anyway right as you reach the clearing in the woods and giving you and Taehyun time to charge towards it this time.

“I think you’re properly crazy!” Taehyun belatedly yells back at you, heading straight for the minotaur’s horns while you set your crossbow aside on your shoulder in exchange for your sword. When the two of you near the minotaur’s laying on its side, your best friend swiftly releases one of the specialized net traps Yeonjun made, one that magically adjusts to the minotaur’s size and strength as it traps the beast in place. “I’m not letting you give me a makeover!”

You groan in annoyance even when you already expected this as his answer, kicking the minotaur to lay on its back and stabbing it down right in its torso while Taehyun digs his boot on its neck, slicing one of its horns off.

Up close, the yells and growls that the minotaur releases into the peaceful air is enough to burst a human’s eardrums off. Instinctively, you protect yours and Taehyun’s ears by manipulating the soundwaves and shutting up the minotaur.

“Not even if you’ll meet your soulmate at the end of it?” You ask as you hold the minotaur down by your sword when it starts to flail around the net trap, moving only with half its strength with the poison quickly spreading in its veins. You feel a slight sting on one of your arms but decide to quickly ignore it as you busy yourself with the monster's frantic movements. “I literally just mentioned that I saw them from behind at the end of the dream—red string and all—and you’re not even just a little bit curious?”

Taehyun briefly pauses, the blood on the minotaur’s horn in his hands dripping down his elbows as he looks at you incredulously, before definitively shaking his head. “The future’s still subject to change, even in your dreams, remember?” He counters matter-of-factly, stabbing the horn straight into its heart and effectively killing it once and for all. “You could still dream about something different later on.”

You roll your eyes, removing your sword from the minotaur’s torso right before it fades into dust right in front of you. “The vision should happen in two months, I’m not going to dream of anything new about it at this point.” You counter, jogging over to Taehyun’s side as he gathers the net trap back in its pouch. Once he’s done, the two of you get your bearings and walk back to the direction of camp. “And before you argue and use my dream journals against me again, I re-checked them all as soon as I wrote this vision down so I can confirm that I have no other unrealized visions that says anything else about what’s destined for you this summer."

“Whatever. I can meet my soulmate fine even without a hot boy makeover, thanks.” He chuckles in amusement in front of your oddly determined expression, wiping the blood off of his sword with a cloth from his bag. “A haircut would be nice, though.”

You bump your shoulder harshly against his as you also wipe your sword, returning it to the sheath on your hips and making a mental note that you'll clean everything thoroughly tomorrow. He retaliates quickly and you give him a glare. “You’re mocking me.”

“I’m not, my hair really is getting longer. It’s annoying.”

“Why settle for just one if I can give you a full makeover, then, genius? It’s not like I won’t ask for your input at all or make you do something you don’t want to do.” You pull your best puppy dog eyes despite the blood drying off in your hands this time, looking up at Taehyun with wide eyes and pursed lips. “Plus, I objectively do better makeovers than half the Aphrodite kids! The muses are literally my godmothers!”

It’s not hard to miss the small smile that briefly breaks out on Taehyun’s usually stoic face even as the two of you trek through the forest this late in the afternoon, the sunlight filtering in through the towering trunks of trees illuminating his face just as you spot the tiniest hint that you’ve broken into his tough facade successfully once more.

“Beomgyu’s gonna get you for that comment at the next Capture the Flag.”

“Only if you tell him which I know you won’t because you’ll be teaming with our cabin again in the next game.” You scoff, waving your hand dismissively. “So, what’s it going to be, Tyun?”

Taehyun shakes his head. “Still a no for the whole makeover but a maybe on the haircut.”

“Are you serious?”

“Tell me this, then: what does my soulmate look like, oh great Seer?” He smirks teasingly.

You huff in exasperation, kicking a branch that happens to be in your way as the camp gate comes into view. “I already told you, I only saw them from the back. I woke up before they could even turn around.”

“Yeah, so what do they look like from the back?”

“They were in bronze armor and had sheaths for a sword and daggers on their side.” You recall, jogging over to the camp gate and into safety. Taehyun follows close. “It could literally be anyone in camp.”

“Exactly, so why bother dolling me up if they’re probably just someone we’ve been camping with since we were kids?”

“They could be a new person in camp for all we know.” You retort swiftly with a hopeful smirk. “Or a visiting Hunter! You know I dreamt that they’re coming this summer.”

“Whatever, they’re still people we meet everyday.” Taehyun shrugs before gesturing to the direction of the Big House. “I’ll report to Chiron. You should get that gash checked at the infirmary.”

“What gash?” You ask dumbly, to which Taehyun rolls his eyes before taking your hand in his and showing you a gash running down the outer side of your arm. “Oh. Well, shit.“

“The minotaur probably clawed you while you held it down.” Taehyun tsks softly, examining it for a bit longer before gently releasing your hand and smacking your forehead. “Stupid. For a child of Apollo, you should be more aware of your body when you get hurt.”

You hold the spot where he just smacked you, furrowing your brows. “Ya!”

“I’ll see you at dinner! Don’t make detours and get that checked out with Soobin!”

You groan in exasperation, digging your boot deep in the soil as you watch Taehyun’s retreating figure disappear in the dirt path. Once he’s gone, only then do you begrudgingly turn around and head to the infirmary with a sigh, focusing your remaining energy in the meantime to at least disinfect the wound with your own vitakinesis.

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you gave Taehyun an elaborate hot boy summer makeover in two months and had him meet his soulmate, red string connecting their wrists and all, at the Summer’s End bonfire. As his best friend of 13 years who’s also secretly pined over him for at least a decade of that time, you know that it’ll take all the brains and brawn at camp combined to convince him to follow his destiny at the end of summer.

It’s no easy feat but Apollo and your mentor, the Oracle of Delphi, is not raising a quitter of a demigod.

♡

Taehyun’s hair is growing longer as he’s mentioned and you’ve expected, bangs sticking closer to his eyes when you spar and your view of the back of his head when you try to surprise him from behind seemingly shaggier. The natural blonde roots of his hair are also starting to grow back as the dyed purple ends he did at the start of Spring are fading into a dull gray, signaling the change of the seasons along with the increasingly hotter weather.

You already know that he won’t give in that easily when it comes to buying him new clothes and forcing him to socialize at camp functions. Taehyun’s stubbornness and logic are, from your point of view, his worst features when you know you’re about to lose your case to him. But, after letting your friends in on your agenda last week (and both Hueningkai and Beomgyu laughing in your face before you pushed the two in the lake) and consulting with the Oracle of Delphi yesterday, you’re hopeful that you’ll get him to agree to the rest of the makeover by virtue of either peer pressure or another vision of his future this summer—whichever works on him first.

For now, you focus on the clippers you borrowed from one of your siblings in your hand, leaning forward in your own seat as you work through the section above his right ear. In front of you, your best friend calmly skims through his copy of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, occasionally glancing at you through the bathroom mirror.

As cabin counselor, you’ve cut your siblings’ hair far more times than you’ve actually done much more important leadership duties such as turning off the lights exactly at midnight or constantly reminding people to clean up after their respective areas. As the one who’s been insisting that you predicted this specific situation, you’ve also dreamt of giving your best friend a smooth haircut, noting in your dream journal about how this part of the overall vision was relatively quick but you still managed to remember Taehyun’s smile when you woke up.

Regardless, a looming feeling of dread stirs at the pit of your stomach and you unconsciously hold your breath as you snip at the hair right above his ear.

“Relax.” Taehyun suddenly mumbles, head still hanging at the angle you instructed him to but his eyes moving over to your direction. “You being nervous makes me nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.”

“You’re not even breathing right now.” He points out sharply before moving to another page, careful not to move his shoulders too much as he dusts off chopped hair from the previous page in the process. “Breathe.”

You ponder on whether you should tell him that you’re worried, partly about the fact that you’ve never cut his hair yourself before but mostly because this is exactly how the dream played out in your head so far and, for some reason, fulfilling your own personal future is often daunting. Regardless of how long you’ve been having visions and fulfilling some of them yourself, you still worry that something unexpected will happen. In this case, the last thing you want to do is to accidentally nick your best friend’s ear.

There’s also the fact that you’re doing all of this to lead him to the path of his soulmate in the end and as much as it pains you to not be that person for him, it also worries you being the one to have to lead things until they meet. You want to put your best friend’s happiness first and that includes making sure that everything goes according to destiny.

“You won’t hurt me.” He adds softly almost as if reading your mind, pausing briefly as he reads one more paragraph in his book. “Anyway, you brought this to yourself because you kept insisting about your dream.”

You roll your eyes, the worry quickly dissipating when he chuckles right next to your own ear. “I’m not worried about that, not anymore at least.” You reply with a soft exhale, moving your chair behind Taehyun as you finally move on to the back of his head. “And I’ll make sure I see my vision of you fulfilled at the end of this summer no matter what.”

Taehyun hums in thought, shoulders tensing slightly when you place your hand over it. You snicker in response, knowing full well that it’s because he’s ticklish, before continuing your work.

“So, how did you exactly see my hot boy makeover in your dream?”

You unconsciously furrow your brows as you work, carefully dusting away the hair that sticks to the nape of Taehyun’s neck when it builds up and holding the clippers in your other hand away when he flinches in response. “What do you mean?”

“Last time, you just said everything you generally have to do but how did you actually see it in your dream?”

You take a moment to gather your thoughts and recall the dream itself and how you wrote it down in your journal, filling in the silence with the faint buzzing of the clippers as you even out everything nicely. “Well, it started out exactly with this very moment: me cutting your hair and doing an awesome job. Then, when you stood up and admired my work in the mirror, you let me drag you to a bunch of flea markets that were right outside the cabin for some reason.” You narrate slowly, occasionally pausing between words as you bit your lip in concentration while simultaneously thinking about how you’re going to proceed with telling him the rest. “The more we moved between stalls, the more trees turned into the buildings at the Lincoln Center until we reached the end of it all where the campers were all partying by a bonfire in front of the Met.”

Taehyun chuckles, most likely as he tries imagining your dream for himself. Pausing again, you also laugh at how silly it all sounds being spoken out loud.

You continue after you’ve gathered your thoughts once more. “You talked to some Hermes kids and Aphrodite kids until it turned into night—with the half moon out as I mentioned before—and you got so tired that you excused yourself to the buffet.” At that, you finish the back section of his hair, moving your chair to Taehyun’s left side. “I watched you talk to your soulmate from the sidelines after that. They came into the scene right as you grabbed a drink, mentioning something about the bonfire and showing the red string around their wrist. I woke up right after and wrote everything as I remembered it.”

You sigh in relief under your breath after your mini speech, mostly at the fact that you were successful in not accidentally letting slip some details the entire time. Though it makes you feel guilty not sharing everything to Taehyun sometimes, you particularly omit the parts you think he doesn’t have to know—the way his dream version’s smile made your dream version’s heart skip a beat, the way his dream version held your dream version’s hand through the flea market, the dread of knowing that he was going to meet his soulmate that you were unconsciously feeling the entire dream, and the way your dream version actually ran away from the scene before you woke up.

Besides, if Taehyun knew about these things, the teasing would never end.

He has a soulmate and it’s not you, you remind yourself again internally for good measure, Stop having weird thoughts, Y/N.

“So you just concluded after that this will all happen over the summer?” Taehyun asks after a moment, darting his eyes over to his left this time as you continue working.

“Sometimes, I get that instinct of important details I have to know when I dream, like my subconscious telling me that I have to know this and that while interacting with the people in my dreams.” You shrug, bending down to the level of his left ear this time. “At that time, my subconscious kept telling me that time was passing as we moved places then your soulmate confirmed it towards the end when we reached bonfire.”

“Did you tell the Oracle about this?”

“Oh, right!” Your gasp, suddenly remembering what you’re supposed to also tell him today. When he looks up briefly and steals another glance of you, you quickly return his gaze with a knowing smirk. “I almost forgot to tell you but I visited them yesterday to consult about my vision. I was hoping I’d get a second opinion from them because, knowing you, you won’t easily agree to letting me give you a makeover unless something important comes up.”

Taehyun seems unfazed despite your best impression at being menacing, shrugging as he follows along your train of thought. “Okay, and?”

“And I asked them about my vision about you and if they’ve seen other things lately. Guess what?” When Taehyun doesn’t ask the question back, you roll your eyes and continue, “They also saw a flea market and Lincoln Center in one of their visions about you and me! Apparently, they saw both places in a vision about Chiron’s next quest for us!”

In that moment, Taehyun’s calm and composed disposition immediately does a 180 as his mouth forms an ‘o’ shape and his hands unconsciously move to close his book in shock. “Oh...”

“So...” You drag out, just as you finish working on the left side of his head. Untying the top section of his head, you then switch your clippers for scissors and a comb before moving in front of Taehyun with a proud grin on your face. Dread, on the other hand, dawns on him in an instant. “I guess prepare your money because we’re going shopping in Manhattan after our next mission!”

Taehyun groans, sinking deeper in his seat while you bend down and comb down his hair. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me...”

“You can come with me to my next visit to the Oracle if you want to confirm it all but they’ll probably just get annoyed by you asking the same questions I did yesterday.” You chuckle, tapping his shoulder as a signal for him to sit properly. “So I guess the only thing left for me to do is to get you to come to at least one party this summer and everything should be good.”

He glares at you from behind his bangs. “You always have to have the last laugh, huh?”

“Well, I am the one with the prophetic visions in this friendship.” You shrug with a laugh, gathering some of his bangs in between your fingers and carefully trimming the ends. “Anyway, I’ve thought it all over and tried recalling my vision as much as I can and we won’t actually be buying a whole new wardrobe. At the very least, there’s this shirt I have to buy for you because you were wearing a flannel I couldn’t recognize towards the end.”

“Is it at least my style?” It’s his turn to frown and pout which you giggle at as you work in front of his face.

“Very much, yeah.” You nod confidently, cutting another inch off of his bangs before ruffling his hair. “Trust me, Tyun, I got you always. Also, I’m done with your hair.”

You stand up and move to the side, setting your tools away in their proper bathroom basket while Taehyun shakes off all the hair on his clothes and move forward to the mirror.

“Do you want me to dye your hair too?” You ask, crossing your arms and leaning your whole body by the marble sink. “I think either Beomgyu or Yeonjun have leftover purple dye in their cabins.”

“Did you foresee it in the future?” He asks with a defeated sigh, inspecting his bangs and the back of his head meticulously.

You shake your head. “No but I’d be happy to dye your hair for you if you want. It’s the least I could do after trapping you into your own worst nightmare.”

Taehyun shakes off more chopped hair from his head and his shirt, stepping aside the pool of purple hair littering the very center of the bathroom. “It’s not that it’s a nightmare for me, it’s just—you know how I feel about destiny and soulmates.” He sighs, moving to the side to change into the extra camp shirt he brought with him. “I’d rather just make my own way without thinking about it too much and meet whoever’s out there for me when I do meet them.”

“And I promised you before, we’ll move along this whole thing at your own pace—or when things present themselves.” You assure, quickly looking away when he takes his shirt off in front of you with a nervous gulp. “Like you said, the future’s still subject to change, and like what my dad always says, the visions are often just guidelines into the future.”

“But does fate really think I need a makeover right now?” Taehyun asks more to himself than to you, his voice muffled only at the start as he pulls his shirt over his head. “I mean, besides the haircut, I don’t think I need a whole new look right now. I’m perfectly fine.”

In the meantime, you busy yourself with crossing the bathroom without peeking at Taehyun and grabbing a broom and a dustpan in the cleaning cabinet, sweeping off the hairs on the tiled floor while keeping your head down.

“Maybe it’s not going to be about having a brand new Taehyun—like visual-wise,” You suggest, only glancing up at him momentarily when he tells you he’s finished changing before moving the hairs you’ve gathered to the trash can. You make sure that your tone is sincere, mainly thinking about how, in the time since you’ve known him, Taehyun really is a person of work and routines and not much of relaxation and doing little things for himself. “maybe it’s just about trying new things this summer. Who knows, you might discover that you actually enjoy shopping in Manhattan flea markets the most after this or that you can finally tell that one kid from the Aphrodite cabin—Haneul, was it?—that you’re not interested in her advances.”

There’s a pause that momentarily hangs in the air as Taehyun combs his hair down absentmindedly by the sink, dirty shirt in his other hand. “Did you rehearse that beforehand?” He says with a teasing smile, one that you easily catch over the mirror and immediately recognize as the same that you dreamt of.

Witnessing it in person pushes heat on your neck and up to your face, your chest feeling light when he chuckles at the way you frown at him. “The one time I'm actually being sincere to you and you ask me if I rehearsed it beforehand.”

“You never know with children of Apoll—ow!” You smack him in the chest in a heartbeat, his hands swiftly moving up in front of you before you could deliver a second blow. “I was kidding!”

You roll your eyes, fighting back a grin when you pretend to hit Taehyun again and he instinctively holds his arms up in defense. “Gods, you children of Athena are so annoying. Do you want me to dye your hair or not?”

“Not right now but definitely the next time we’re both free.” He grins. “Thank you for the haircut, by the way. Hyuka's right, you should start charging people for this.”

You unconsciously annoy yourself with the way your heart starts speeding up as you take a proper look at your work on his hair. Get a grip, he’s just complimenting your work, he always does that when he needs to. “Oh, I will be collecting my fees in our next sparring demo at the arena.” You retort, hand reaching up harmlessly this time as you fix his bangs. "Gods, you better sweep your soulmate off their feet when you meet at the end of the summer with how well I did your hair."

He briefly freezes under your touch before visibly relaxing his shoulders as you ruffle more fallen hair off of his scalp, following you carefully with his eyes the whole time. “Y-Yeah, I got it. Well, future Taehyun does.”

In the back of your mind, a small feeling of dread starts seeping into your thoughts—the exact same dread you felt in your dreams that anticipates the arrival of the stranger that is Taehyun’s soulmate. But at the same time, your heart skips a beat as you glance up at him again.

Gods, you are fucked.

♡

When Chiron inevitably gives you and Taehyun your next mission a week later, you find out that the quest you’re embarking on has to do with retrieving a demigod and one of Persephone’s pearl that has somehow ended up in a nearby flea market.

You retrieve the demigod Kazuha first, explaining everything to her over the course of three days before killing the harpies that have been stalking her by disguising themselves as potential sponsors for her ballet school. Given the hassle of commuting back and forth to Long Island, however, you let her tag along with you and Taehyun on the second part of your quest right after—even helping you narrow down the possible flea markets when you let her in on the information Chiron gave you about the pearl’s previous whereabouts.

(Taehyun initially insisted that he can just call Yeonjun to pick up Kazuha but you insisted otherwise, citing that you don’t want to bother Yeonjun and that Kazuha is a natural with your extra bow and arrow. While partly you have a feeling that Kazuha is one of your half-siblings, there’s also the way she held onto your sword when you let her borrow it that gives you a strange feeling about something that you’re not sure of yet.)

So what was originally two people scouring the Greenwich Village flea markets becomes three as Kazuha links her left arm with your right and asks you all sorts of questions about camp. To your left, Taehyun is loosely holding your other hand as he often does in big crowds of people, eyes examining your surroundings carefully.

Taehyun's hands are cold despite the humid weather but you don't pay much mind, not when your own hand is warmer than normal as a child of Apollo and balancing everything out.

“Oh we should buy this!” You exclaim as you see yet another pair of earrings that catches your eye, Kazuha immediately agreeing with a nod and a grin as you inspect the vintage sunflower-shaped accessory. “It’s so cute!”

Taehyun rolls his eyes from behind you, letting you drag him along by the hand anyway as he carries a paper bag of all of your combined purchases in his other hand. “Ya, I know I said we can stroll around but we really need to find the missing pearl and get home before sundown.”

You ignore his words, turning around with a smile and hovering the earrings next to your face. “What do you think?”

“Beautiful. But you have so many sunflowers at home already.” Taehyun calmly points out, glancing over your shoulder as he tries to inspect the merchant’s items but to no avail. You hope he misses the way your knees almost physically buckle in front of him. “I’m actually starting to think that your dad is also symbolized by the sunflower.”

“But I don’t have sunflower earrings yet!” You retort before turning to Kazuha. “What about you, Kazuha? What do you think?”

“I think yellow brings out your complexion pretty well! It's wonderful!” She flashes a thumbs up of approval before lowering her voice for her next words. “And I think it’s pretty fitting for a child of Apollo!"

“Thanks, Kazuha!”

Taehyun squints his eyes at Kazuha, shaking his head in disapproval. “Don’t entertain them too much, it’ll get in their head.”

“Jerk.” You scoff, removing your hand from Taehyun’s to elbow him to which he only smirks at you before you face the merchant again. “How much for this, ma’am?”

The old woman leans over the table to inspect the earrings, pushing her eyeglasses higher up her nose before smiling warmly in recognition. “For you, I can give it away for six dollars.” She answers, voice simultaneously hoarse and small. “Great choice, child, it would look very lovely on you.”

You smile at her, before glaring up at Taehyun playfully. “See, a compliment isn't so bad every once in a while.” You scold him before taking out your wallet from your slingbag and handing the old woman your six dollars. “You have really lovely items, by the way, ma'am.”

“My, thank you!” The old woman smiles before moving to the clothes rack on the side of her table. “Feel free to look around, my dear. I’m sure your sister and boyfriend can also find something that they like around here.”

You almost choke on your own spit and Taehyun, though seemingly unfazed, coughs awkwardly before moving to the clothes rack. Then, on your other side just witnessing it all, Kazuha giggles behind her hand.

“Oh no, ma’am you must be mistaken. We’re not—“ You shake your head wildly as you put the earrings on and take a step away from Taehyun, heat rising up your face uncomfortably despite the scorching hot afternoon sun beating down on your backs. “He’s not—he’s not my boyfriend.”

In the meantime, Taehyun busies himself with combing through the clothes on sale, eyes abnormally wide in what you’ve come to know as his go-to flustered expression before pulling out a green plaid flannel. “How about this, Y/N?” He asks, trying to keep his voice monotonous even when he knows full well that you can decipher his embarrassed feelings through his voice. “About that thing you mentioned last time?”

“What thing?” You and Kazuha ask at the same time.

“The thing.” Taehyun repeats with more emphasis this time, waving a green plaid flannel in front of you before showing you another hanger with a blue flannel. “This too.”

You open your mouth to speak but no words come out, Kazuha ending up speaking on your (and, unknowingly, your vision) behalf. “Um, I don’t know what the thing is but I like the green one.” She says, pointing innocently at the exact same flannel you’re belatedly registering as the one from your vision. “But the blue one is cute too.”

Taehyun nods in thought, ultimately returning the blue flannel and folding the green plaid one over his arm. “Kazuha, you can look at this too if you want.” He suggests, beckoning her over to his side. “Y/N, I thought you wanted to shop for more clothes.”

Kazuha’s expression brightens and she’s quick to jog over to Taehyun, relaxing immediately at Taehyun’s first gesture of hospitality towards her. “Oh, right! Sure!”

You, on the other hand, remain at the very front of the stall, watching the two interact on the sides until it hits you, the same sense of deja vu you always get when parts of your vision unfold in reality.

The way Kazuha held your sword last night, her passing comment about wanting to learn how to work with daggers, and the way Taehyun also visibly warms up to her in real-time when she suggests a second and a third shirt for Taehyun to buy for himself.

“Holy shit.” You mumble to yourself, coincidentally spotting a familiar ocean blue pearl in a pile of brooches that the old woman brings out when you look away from the two at the same time.

Taehyun looks over his shoulder to you in concern, following your gaze to the brooches. “Y/N.”

You meet his gaze, eyes widening as you quickly pick up the pearl brooch and show it to the merchant. “Excuse me, ma’am, how much for this brooch?”

“Oh, that’s something a neighbor just gave me to sell away this morning. A dollar would do, darling.”

You sigh in relief, handing out an additional dollar to the old woman before thanking her then joining Kazuha and Taehyun near the clothes racks.

“Okay, I got it. Easy enough...weirdly.” You declare, showing Taehyun and Kazuha the brooch in your hand then quickly averting your gaze to the clothes in racks and boxes around you. Seeing the two up close, the total weight of your realization slowly starts uncomfortably settling on your chest, making you cough awkwardly. “What else do they have?”

Taehyun, meanwhile, takes the brooch and leans close to pin it on your sling bag, patting it down on your chest. You unconsciously hold your breath the whole time.

“Let’s keep it here for now so we don’t accidentally crush it on the ride home.” He whispers low, glancing up at you before quickly leaning away.

You nod meekly, belatedly exhaling as your eyes follow Taehyun’s figure when he turns around and pays for the clothes he’s picked up—including the green plaid flannel you’ll see him wear at the bonfire.

“Y/N, do you like wearing silk scarves?” Kazuha asks from your opposite side, showing you a whole band of patterned silk scarves. “They’re pretty trendy this summer!”

You nod again absentmindedly, fighting the urge to blurt out what you’ve just realized about Kazuha and Taehyun right now as she shows you a bunch of silk scarves you can try.

You try looking for the red strings for the rest of that flea trip market and the subsequent subway ride back to Camp, discreetly inspecting Taehyun when he slots his hand back into yours when you move on to other stalls and making sure that you lead Kazuha to the right subway by hand when you go home. Though you don’t have the ability to do so, it was worth the try anyway in your head, anything to further confirm your suspicions.

Taehyun definitely noticed, though, but chose not to speak on it until after dinner when you’ve introduced Kazuha to Yeonjun who’ll be her temporary cabin counselor.

“There’s no string, not one I can see anyway.” He states on the walk to your cabin, holding his arms up to show you his bare wrists.

You frown when he takes your hand back in his after, both in frustration and the uncomfortable feeling of being hyper-aware of how his thumb rubs the back of your hand. “Maybe you won’t see it until later? You tell me, I'm pretty sure you've read all about it before."

“There aren't much books on it actually. Anyway, didn't you dream of it for Soobin before?" He points out, referring to last summer when you helped the child of Poseidon actualize a vision you had of him befriending one of Hades’ children. In that particular vision, you also dreamt of a red string but your subconscious instincts (also confirmed by the Oracle in your later session together) only told you that the future anticipates it to be platonic. "Did he say anything about it?"

“I didn’t think they’d date, I just predicted they’d be good friends because my subconscious told me so. The Oracle also didn’t see it coming either, you know.” You clarify. “And, no, Soobin hasn't mentioned anything about seeing the string on himself. He did mention that there are older Aphrodite campers who can see them but they’ve all left camp before we even came in. No one in camp right now has the gift.”

"Then maybe it's just a metaphor for connection in your dream. Simple as that." Taehyun shrugs.

"Still a connection and clearly pointing towards something important." You insist, finally reaching your cabin and getting bombarded by the sounds of Sunwoo’s electric guitar and what you can identify as Soyeon making up a tune on the spot. “Who knows, the red string in my vision may actually be platonic or romantic like what happened with Soobin!”

“You’ve known me for 13 years. What do you think?”

You stop on the marble steps leading up to the entrance, instinctively raising your hand up to the door and manipulating the sound waves escaping the walls to form a bubble around the cabin. The house mutes up from the outside in an instant. “I just told you what I think?”

Taehyun rolls his eyes, gesturing to himself then to you. “I mean what do you think about us? Suppose we have a red string to each other, what does it mean to you?”

Your entire body tenses up, eyes looking up to inspect every inch of your best friend’s face for any signs of breaking out into a laugh and revealing that he’s messing with you.

Taehyun furrows his brows in thought, anticipating your answer with bated breath and a seemingly erratic heartbeat that reaches your ears when you unconsciously focus on it.

You gulp, the sound seemingly louder in your now quieter surroundings. When you focus in on the sounds around you once more, you also hear your heartbeat uncomfortably pounding in your eardrums at the sudden tension.

“You’re my best friend, my first friend here and the longest one I've been with, actually.” It takes all remaining strength in you to answer, coughing awkwardly in the silence. “We grew up together, went to school together until the 12th grade, and spend the holidays alternating with your dad and my mom. We train together on weekdays, and we go on quests together all the time because we always insist to Chiron and Mr. D. that we’re a package deal. Not to mention, we've already gotten ourselves stuck in the Lotus Casino for a whole six months before. I think that's already pretty epic enough in itself."

“If we were tied together,” You add, hesitantly hammering in the final nail in the coffin. “I think it’s just platonic like all of our other connections with other people. If we’re anything else, something would've happened long ago."

Taehyun takes an abnormally long moment to reply, his expression morphing into something undecipherable before he lets out the breath he's been holding. It makes you frown and you ponder on asking him if you said something wrong until he beats you to it.

“Exactly my point." He coughs awkwardly before taking a step back. "Like us, it could be friendship for all we know in the end. Soobin's was just a whole different case."

Your heart sinks somehow, as if you were expecting him to say something different in the back or your head. “Then we’ll never know until next month.”

Taehyun hums with a nod, the loud music coming from your cabin gradually returning as you dispel the sound bubble you made around it.

You want to ask his question back to him, the words at the tip of your tongue and hoping he’ll actually say something completely different from you until they dissipate as Taehyun pats your head goodnight, a strange smile on his lips. “I’ll be off, then. Sweet dreams, stupid.”

“Night, genius.” You greet back instead, the feeling of dread you’ve been holding back for weeks now momentarily slipping up as your voice shakes towards the end.

You don’t end up sleeping at all that night, all sorts of thoughts—from anxiety you’ve been feeling as your summer unfolds similarly to your vision to the possibilities that Kazuha could be one of your siblings and Taehyun’s soulmate—keeping you up with your siblings’ loud music until the next day. So instead, you reread all of your recent dream journals entries with your live journal, correlating each event and detail with each other: the time Taehyun had you cut his hair, your quest of finding Kazuha, all of Kazuha’s comments that could possibly be clues, the flea market trip today, and Beomgyu’s brief mention of a beach party co-hosted with the Hermes cabin and the Dionysus cabin before you embarked on your latest quest.

Taehyun’s hot boy summer was unfolding in real-time with some contingencies your vision didn’t warn you about beforehand. On the one hand, you’re glad that it’s happening generally as planned at least, with only the beach party and the bonfire left to fulfill. But on the other, you feel somewhat conflicted and overwhelmed—anxious of seeing the rest of the plan through, conflicted about having an inkling of who your best friend’s prospective soulmate might be before the bonfire, and resentful that, for some reason, you suddenly and selfishly don’t want it to be anyone else but you.

(Soobin ends up having to fight an internal battle of not to laugh in front of your face when you report for a volunteer shift at the infirmary the next day, dismissing you quickly and letting you sleep in one of the cots.

“This better be a life-changing realization if you have eyebags this bad.” The older boy sighs with concern as he brings you an extra blanket from their supply closet. “What is it this time?”

“It’s nothing.” You grumble, draping the blanket over your legs as you lay down before lifting it over your head.

“Are you sure?”

“Go tend to your patients, Soobin. Someone’s gonna come in in 10 minutes with a concussion.”)

♡

The Saturday of the beach party, Kazuha is coincidentally claimed as a child of Aphrodite in the middle of the beginner's archery class that you teach. Though the strong gust of wind brought by the doves that welcome Kazuha as one of Beomgyu's half-siblings eases your worry about her discovering her godly parent and the possible difficulties that may happen if she ends up as your half-sibling, it is an inconvenience to your class and a tell-tale sign that Beomgyu and the Dionysus cabin counselor, Hyunjae, will bring in more ambrosia and alcohol for reckless campers to consume.

Forcing Taehyun to socialize with the Aphrodite and Hermes cabin kids suddenly seems like the worst idea, your suspicion immediately proving itself true when you arrive at the beach later in the evening and scour just how many people are already drunk by 8 PM.

"Drinks?" Taehyun asks you after you've congratulated Kazuha on her claiming, gesturing over to a group crowding around what seems to be coolers of beer and soju and a table of snacks and ambrosia. You've bleached and re-dyed his roots in his cabin over the course of the week, his hair looking as bright as it did in the Spring, and he's allowed you to style him tonight in a crisp white printed shirt you ordered for him online, a cropped leather jacket, and jeans. "If you're making me talk to a bunch of Aphrodite and Hermes kids, I'd probably need two bottles of beer first."

You look up at him as the two of you walk to the drinks, actively avoiding his hand reaching for yours when you feel your knuckles bump against his.

"I mean, do you still want to, looking around?" You chuckle nervously, instinctively ducking along with Taehyun when a beach ball gets tossed in your direction. You then quickly pick the ball up and toss it back to Chaewon who thanks you appreciatively. "Everyone definitely sounds and smells like they're pretty buzzed already."

On your right, a bunch of Hephaestus kids and Zeus kids have started an impromptu fire show around the bonfire then to your left, a good half of the Poseidon kids, Ares kids, and your own siblings are all knee-deep in the water and having an intense game of water dodgeball. Then somewhere behind you, some of the Aphrodite kids, Hermes kids, and Dionysus kids have started big circles of the camp staple truth or dare, dragging anyone who comes near while also occasionally playing music on the speakers provided by the Hermes cabin.

Making a whole turn as you walk, Taehyun ends up shaking his head with a laugh. "Maybe not intentionally right now." He answers belatedly, stopping in front of the coolers and picking up two beer bottles for you. In the meantime, you pick up some chips and ambrosia for yourselves. "I'll need to be at least a bit buzzed myself before I let any of the Hermes kid drag me to a conga line

You laugh but nod in agreement, snatching the beer bottles from his hands and opening them simultaneously using both of the caps. You then hand one to Taehyun and take a big gulp of your own. "Okay, so where do you want to go for now?"

The two of you move away from the coolers, scanning the area as you walk and snack on your loot.

"Yeonjun's probably getting pissed drunk with Wooyoung, Haknyeon, and Changbin by now and Beomgyu's definitely making sure that none of the Aphrodite kids end up in places where they don't want to be in tomorrow morning." You start before taking another swig of your beer, the beverage warming slightly in your hands as you harness the sun’s energy through the half-moon. “Personally, I don’t want to be taking care of three more guys later when you’re all drunk and talkative so I’d really like to avoid any 98 liner tonight.”

“I don’t get too talkative.” Taehyun frowns, sipping his beer slower and hissing at the cold temperature running down his throat.

You roll your eyes, thoughts immediately going through all the times he’s jumped on the big rock formations further down the beach and pretended he was Socrates while blackout drunk. “That’s why you don’t remember things when you drink, genius.”

Taehyun sighs, opening a bag of potato chips whil he drinks. "Whatever. Anyway, we just saw Soobin with his siblings so he's not drinking tonight but I'm not really in the mood to get in the water.”

You nod in agreement, immediately moving away when the water climbs closer in the sand. "That leaves us with Hyuka, wherever he is right now." You point out, snatching a handful of chips from Taehyun’s bag. “Come to think about it, I haven’t seen him since lunch.”

"Me too. Where could he even be?" Taehyun squints his eyes under the dim lighting of the fairy lights haphazardly set up around the beach, turning his head on both sides as you walk past the fire show that has now quieted down with the kids preparing DIY fireworks on the spot. "He's not with Soobin or Hiyyih. I doubt he’d be with Yeonjun and Beomgyu at a party too unless he’s drinking tonight.”

The two of you walk further down the beach, examining every face and group you pass by, occasionally making small talk with the other campers, and making sure that your respective siblings are still drinking safely and responsibly. Some of the Demeter kids hand you more food and drinks while some Hermes kids invite you to do shots and drinking games with them as the night progresses further and you momentarily forget about looking for your half-sibling, feeling light-headed from all the beer mixed in with ambrosia while Taehyun gradually loosens up as well right next to you the more freely he converses with the other campers.

You take more and more notice of the Aphrodite and Hermes kids approaching Taehyun much like in your vision, complimenting his outfit with flushed cheeks and cheeky grins in real-time before running away to gossip among themselves. Though you realize early that you’re feeling quite tipsy already, the amount of people that crowd you for Taehyun every now and then effectively keeps you awake with a strange feeling bubbling up in your chest.

“Do you think it’s weird that Eric just called my outfit nice after I pushed him off the climbing wall on Wednesday?” Taehyun hums at one point, glancing over his shoulder as the said son of Ares joins his friends at a new big circle in the sand.

It's almost an hour later when you've scoured the whole beach for Hueningkai but to no avail, finding it weird even in your light-headed state that your half-brother is not at the very center of all the festivities.

In the meantime, you shake your head, dragging Taehyun to your opposite side when you see another child of Aphrodite, Haneul, try and approach you two. Glaring her down until she backs off, you then muster up an answer for Taehyun, “It’s not weird. He probably thought it’s nice to see you out of your polos and sweatshirts for once. You’re overthinking it.”

“I like my polos and sweatshirts. I mean…I’m glad you reminded me that I own a leather jacket but I like my other clothes.” Tipsy Taehyun pouts at you with his eyes blown wide and his cheeks flushed, linking his arms with yours as well which you don’t mind as much now compared to earlier in the evening when you were sober.

After probably three or four bottles of beer and a gods-awful lot of shots, the drunk Taehyun you know was slowly coming out with the long but slow sentences and the darting eyes. “You know, I was wearing a yellow sweatshirt when we first met.” He adds belatedly, finding interest in the sand.

You nod, slowing down in your walk as the breeze picks up and smacks your drunkenness in your face. When Taehyun stumbles slightly in the sand, you’re slower in pushing him back on his feet as the two of you stand near a smaller bonfire made by one of the Hephaestus kids.

“Yeah, you let me borrow it when I arrived in the dead of Winter without a jacket then you gave it to me a week after when I couldn’t sleep well at the Hermes cabin. We didn’t know I had limited thermal manipulation that time.” You try your best recalling, finding it now a good time to sober up a bit as he tries talking your ear off. “Ya, you literally saw me wear it with my sunflower earrings when we had workshop together on Thursday.”

“Right, right! Soobin and Hyuka complimented you after breakfast too.” Taehyun grins and chuckles, nodding along. “I remember because I was there and I was proud they complimented something of mine without knowing!”

“Right, Hyuka. We haven’t seen him all night.” You frown, taking your last sip of your fourth bottle before disposing it in one of the trash cans set up near the bonfire. “We should look for him soon.”

“Wait!” Taehyun suddenly exclaims when you walk ahead towards the more secluded area of the beach. When you turn around, you then see him shrugging off his leather jacket and passing it to you. “It’s cold!”

You raise a brow and nod. “Yeah, so wear your jacket, genius.”

Taehyun stubbornly shakes his head, pushing the leather jacket to you. “No, I mean it’s cold so you wear my jacket!”

You conclude that Taehyun is more intoxicated than usual at this point with the way he’s just casually forgetting who your godly parent is. The thought makes the more rational side of your brain, currently pushed away in the deeper recesses of your mind for tonight, emerge back further and laugh.

“Oh, we’ll have to get you water soon. You’re literally forgetting who your best friend is.” You tsk softly, taking the leather jacket and wrapping it around him again. Your fingers end up grazing his exposed collarbones in the process, hotter than normal after a few drinks. “I’m hoping you still know how to put on a jacket, at least, given you just removed it a second ago?”

If Taehyun was taken aback by how hot your hands suddenly are, he doesn’t visibly show it on his face. “Why are your hands so hot all of a sudden?”

“A family thing, I guess. I learned it after you gave me your sweatshirt.” You shrug teasingly, already feeling yourself sober up the more Taehyun uncharacteristically keeps his head in the clouds with the final sip of his beer bottle. “If you remember, you also called me a portable furnace when that snow storm hit in the 3rd grade then avoided me like the plague when that heat wave came the summer after.”

“I would never do that.” Taehyun frowns as he discards his own beer bottle in the trash can, almost missing it by a literal hair and hiding his embarrassment by taking your hand in his. “Well, not the me right now, at least. I guess kid Taehyun had more sass."

You chuckle lightly. Your rational side, wanting to come back to your full senses, wants to take your hand back immediately but the remnants of the alcohol in your system holds you back from actually saying it. "You're still pretty sassy most days. Family trait too, I'm guessing."

“I wish my hands could also heat up like that, though, especially on colder nights like these.” He sighs to himself as he pushes his arms through the sleeves of his leather jacket again and rubs his hands for extra warmth. “But then I won’t be able to hold your hand whenever I want to since we’d just burn each other.”

You almost choke on your own spit, coughing as Taehyun obliviously leads the two of you to walk around the beach again. “E-Excuse me?”

“I like holding your hand.” He squeezes your hand once for emphasizing before shrugging, as if it was the most casual declaration in the world right now. “Anyway, let’s go around and look for Hyuka once then if he's really not here, let's just join the Hephaestus kids by the smaller bonfires.”

Dumbfounded, you just let him led you down the sand path of the beach with your hands swinging gently between the two of you, almost missing the way tipsy Taehyun smiles to himself after glancing down at your hands.

Eventually, you find your aforementioned younger half-sibling with Beomgyu, Kazuha, and the Aphrodite kids in a rockier and more secluded part of the beach of all places, right at the center of a truth or dare circle.

"Hey, you guys came!" He exclaims giddily, running over to you with a peculiar skip in his steps before wrapping his arms on both yours and Taehyun's shoulders. "My other other other favorite sibling and the guy who's been stealing them away from me!"

"I wouldn't say stealing your sibling away. I just needed help with my hair." Taehyun rolls his eyes as he helps you pry Hueningkai's bigger frame away from the both of you. "I didn't think you'd be drinking tonight."

"Me too, actually! But I got apple juice to go with everything so it's been pretty fun!"

"How many bottles have you had even?" You ask at the same time, more sober now that you’ve walked the entire stretch of the beach. "Gods, you stink! Did you come in straight from sparring?"

"I made it to three bottles today!" Hueningkai proudly slurs his words in answer, taking both yours and Taehyun's free hands and dragging you to the circle. "And I was dared to bring in two more people so I guess that's you guys!"

You glance over at Taehyun, raising your brows in question to which he answers non-verbally by shrugging.

"Come, come!" Hueningkai tugs you closer before you could protest, sitting you down next to Beomgyu while Taehyun is dragged over to Kazuha and Yuna. "Sieun, you’re next! Truth or dare?”

Though you end up witnessing Yuna getting dared to do 10 consecutive soju shots, an elephant spin, and then a whole somersault, Taehyun reciting the multiplication table backwards and revealing the campers he’s not very fond of, and Jeongin revealing the names of all the people and nymphs he’s ever had a crush on, this circle of campers is relative tamer than the others you almost got dragged to previously. It’s a rowdy bunch with too many bottles of ambrosia and soju swiped from the main party (courtesy of Beomgyu) but you find yourself easily tipsy again and laughing along to your friends’ antics, leaning your half of your body weight on Beomgyu next to you and even picking dare twice to entertain yourself and everyone else.

(The first time, you ended up getting in a competition with Hueningkai and Yunjin on who can raise their body temperature the highest then on your second dare, Kazuha dared you to mute Beomgyu until his next turn.)

“Oi, Beomgyu, truth or dare?" Sunghoon asked once the said child of Aphrodite’s phone pointed towards its owner five rounds later.

You then manipulate the soundwaves in the air with a snap, allowing Beomgyu to immediately and excitedly blurt out, “Dare!”

While everyone comes up with a new dare for him, Beomgyu then shoves you away from him playfully because of how you muted his voice out for 15 minutes, making you laugh.

“Dude, that was awful! I wanted to yell when Sunghoon jumped in the water!” He exclaims to you, making you and Ryujin on your opposite side laugh. “Then when Kazuha prank called Eunchae and Taehyun did all those ambrosia shots!”

You shrug teasingly, raising your hands up in defeat. “Well, it was nice for us being slightly quieter for 30 minutes!”

“Ya, come here, you little—!”

“Okay, we dare you to use charmspeak on anyone in the circle!” Sunghoon interjects with an excited yell, eyes then landing on you. “How about on Y/N?”

Your eyes widen as your mind quickly goes blank with all eyes on you. From the corner of your eye, you see the same indecipherable expression on Taehyun’s face and his body visibly tenses up despite the soju bottle in his hand.

At the same time, Beomgyu’s hazy eyes brighten up in an instant before turnjng to you with a menacing smirk. “Oh, revenge is coming early for you!”

“It’s just for a minute, though!” Hueningkai points out. “Just make Y/N do something small. Nothing too weird or dangerous please, they have two siblings here!”

“Wait, let me think of something!” Beomgyu raises his right hand in front of him with a chuckle while his left raises his soju bottle on his lips again. “It should still be interesting since this is my opportunity at revenge!”

You glance at Taehyun again from the corner of your eye, almost flinching in the sand when you meet his eyes, then at Kazuha two people away from him with wide eyes and mouth forming an ‘o’ shape curiously. When you focus on Kazuha and Yunjin, you can faintly hear her ask about charmspeak as an ability of Aphrodite’s children.

Gulping down another sip of soju, you suddenly find yourself shrugging and agreeing to the dare. “Fuck it, okay, sure. Give me your best shot, lover boy.”

“Okay, okay. Geez.” Beomgyu rolls his eyes, irises turning pink right after. “You’ve always been curious about my charmspeak, huh?”

Without even thinking about it, your mouth suddenly blurts out, “Yeah, sure.”

Your circle of friends gasp in surprise, having never really seen you entertain requests like this before, and you also gasp at the very recesses of your thoughts, belatedly realizing what is going on with you.

Beomgyu smirks and clasps his hands together in content. “What should we have you do? What do you want to do, love?”

A force settles itself on your shoulders, moving your muscles around like a puppet. This time, you shrug and gesture over to Beomgyu in a daze. “Whatever you want me to do, it’s fine.”

“Y/N, truth or dare? I think another dare would be good for you this round, don’t you think?”

“Ya, Beomgyu, careful there.” Jeongin warns, to which he earns a shushing gesture from said child of Aphrodite.

“I choose dare.” You answer back monotonously despite your efforts to fight back whatever force is making you answer before you could even comprehend anything, worry settling in the back of your head as a mischievous glint crosses Beomgyu’s now blood red eyes.

“I dare you to kiss the prettiest person in the circle!” Beomgyu declares, glancing around. “If you can’t decide for yourself right now, you can pick me or Kazuha or Sunghoon.”

Beomgyu’s name somehow pushes itself to the front of your mind and the tip of your tongue, pushing Taehyun’s name of all people. “I choose—“

“Beomgyu, that’s enough.”

Taehyun’s low and commanding voice is enough to snap you out of your trance, blinking twice and turning your head towards him, and disrupt Beomgyu’s concentration, much to everyone’s chagrin. His stoic expression remains the same but if you focus on the fainter sounds around you, you can clearly hear him gritting his teeth and huffing.

Next to you, Beomgyu raises his hands up in surrender, a small hint of a knowing smirk on his face. “Okay, okay, calm down. I was going to stop there, actually.” He replies with a light-hearted chuckle, eyes going back to their natural brown. “Should we move on? Taehyun, truth or dare?”

Instead of answering, however, Taehyun stands up and storms off, leaving his soju bottle in the sand and walking to the direction of the path back to the cabins.

“Tyun—“ You try standing up and going after him, only for Beomgyu to hold you back down by your elbow. “Gyu, let go of me!”

“Are you crazy? There’s literal steam going off of his ears right now, I’m not letting you go after him.” Beomgyu retorts calmly, tightening his grip on your elbow when you flail around. “Let him cool down for a bit.”

“I swear to the gods, Choi Beomgyu—“

This time, it’s Hueningkai who interjects, “Dude, no, he’s right. Let’s leave Taehyun alone for now, I don’t want you getting thrown off a tree or something.”

“But—“

Beomgyu shakes his head. “No, nope, no buts. I think that also checks out for our game tonight.” He interjects, standing up and dusting the sand off of his pants. “Come on, guys, let’s clean up and head back too.”

You groan, standing up last and helping everyone clear out the mess. “I don’t even know why he’s so upset.” You mumble to Hueningkai after, heading back to the more crowded area of the beach to discard your empty bags of chips and soju bottles. “It was just a game.”

It takes your half-brother a moment to ponder on your question, opening his mouth multiple times only to close it quietly. When he does answer, he says, “E-Eh, well, it’ll probably go away by morning.” Shrugging, Hueningkai then offers to walk you and Yunjin back to the cabin after finding Hiyyih by another bonfire. “Taehyun was probably just upset by charmspeak, child of Athena and everything. Don’t worry about it.”

♡

It did not go away by morning, not even in the weeks that followed. Though Taehyun was civil with you—continuing to spar with you on weekdays, accompanying you even on smaller solo quests, and even partnering up with you during one of your assigned strawberry picking days—it was the kind of civil you’ve associated over the years as him being cross with you.

For one, he’s suddenly quieter than usual and only speaks to you when it is absolutely necessary, which in Taehyun talk would only be when he has to ask a direct question about your work or if he has to clarify something. He doesn’t even ask you anymore if you got hurt during sparring sessions or what time you finish your beginner’s archery classes, the longest he’s spoken to you in the past three weeks being the time when he asked you and your fellow cabin counselors the details about the arrival of Artemis’ hunters to camp.

Though Beomgyu’s apologized to you and to him multiple times, you’re also quick to catch onto Taehyun tensing up whenever the three of you are within five feet of each other before ultimately moving away. He’s mostly hung out with Hueningkai and Yeonjun in the meantime and you’d often find the three standing together even when they’re not teammates for an activity, leaving you to resort to drilling your half-brother with questions about Taehyun at the end of the day.

(But even Hueningkai is no good help most times because he’s decided that he’d rather keep some things between him and his friend rather than open up to you, his literal sibling. You also had to find out from Yeonjun that it was Hueningkai himself who proposed that they talk via text messaging when they’re together, knowing that you can focus on sounds well.)

But most importantly, Taehyun, whether he’s doing it intentionally or not, has been harsher on you than everyone else during team games. As you’ve observed before in all the other times when he’s held grudges on you or other campers, it’s his way of letting off steam: being more critical of you during brainstorming sessions, yelling at you a little louder in the field, and pointing out all of your mistakes with a harder expression on his face after. Though it was nice that he’s at least not giving you the cold shoulder, there have been times in the past few days that you’ve wanted to just tear his head off or stab him with a poisoned arrow in annoyance because you knew him well enough to know that he doesn’t fully mean what he’s saying and that he’s just projecting.

And you desperately want to apologize for whatever it is that you did at the party, as evidenced by the growing number of paragraphs on your phone’s Notes app and the amount of times you’ve tried cornerning him at the forge, but you just can’t seem to find the right time—not when Taehyun’s always buried in work, talking in secret with Hueningkai and Yeonjun, or nitpicking at everything and making it an argument between the two of you. As much as it hurts knowing he’ll meet someone new soon, it hurts even more knowing that he’ll meet this new person while being extremely upset with you and won’t let you apologize.

Gods, you think that you really are fucked.

By the afternoon before the Summer’s End bonfire, a celebration at the canoe lake for departing campers, you find yourself terrorizing Soobin at the infirmary instead of helping out with last minute preparations on the bonfire.

Initially, you were going to the big house and consult with the Oracle of Delphi until they kick you out, then you’d stick with the Hunters of Artemis for the rest of the night when the Oracle pushes you to go to the bonfire. However, Mr. D. has closed the big house earlier than you anticipated, pushing you in the direction of the infirmary at its closing time and catching Soobin packing away his things for the day.

“Have you ever thought about making a cure for any kind of broken heart?” You ask with a sigh as you help fold blankets and fluff pillows. “I mean, I get that most demigods and heroes would rather follow their loved ones to the underworld but don’t you think it’s also good to have a back-up option, especially for us people in the waking world?”

"Just go up to him, make sure he’s alone, and say sorry like you’ve always done in all the other times you’ve fought.” Soobin shrugs three cots away from you as he makes an inventory of the infirmary’s medical supplies. “I get that he’s a bit intimidating when he’s mad and that you’ll probably need to apologize at least five times but he’s still your best friend. Besides, this isn’t your biggest fight with him, as far as I’m concerned.”

“It’s not just that.” You whine dramatically, plopping down on the cot in front of you. “It’s also because I—well, first, I’m not exactly sure what I’m apologizing for. For complying with Beomgyu for a dare? Willingly getting charmspoken? He’s upset and he’s valid for that but I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around his point of view that time.”

“Maybe he was upset on your behalf. While it was a drunken joke for everyone else, it probably wasn’t for him. He’s still a child of Athena and you know how his mom feels about Beomgyu’s mom sometimes.” Soobin suggests. “And you know he’s very protective of you. That and the fact that charmspeaking is done differently with Aphrodite and Athena kids probably agitated him.”

“I mean, still, I was fine and nothing really happened, anyway.” You point out before scratching your head and waving your hand dismissively. “Whatever, there’s also the thing with tonight. I might just ruin it for him if I corner him for a bit just to say sorry. Soobin, he’s literally meeting his soulmate tonight and my instincts told me it’s the romantic kind of soulmate.”

“Yeah, so? Before this soulmate person, you’re Tyun’s best friend. I don’t think five minutes of apologizing is going to change anything for the rest of destiny.” Soobin retorts expertly and you immediately regret coming to your most level-headed friend in your time of actual stress and dramatics. “I think you’d even make his night if you try and make amends right before he meets this person, whoever they are.”

You pout and Soobin rolls his eyes, finishing up his inventory before walking over to you. He sits right next to you on the cot, sighing as he does so.

“I didn’t see me apologizing to him in my vision.”

“You also didn’t predict that you’d be getting into this specific situation in the first place.” Soobin retorts sassily. “Isn’t it your dad who said that your vision are just general guidelines? This isn’t the future you saw back then, it’s your present now and it’s demanding you clear things up with Taehyun as soon as possible.”

You rest your chin on your knees, whining dramatically. “But Soobin!”

“You’re literally just making up excuses. Take it from me that if you don’t do what you have to do as soon as possible, you’ll regret it when you have to wait for a long time for your next shot.”

“That’s easy for you to say, you got the girl in the end.” You grumble.

Soobin raises a brow at this. "So it’s about being in love with Taehyun now?”

Your eyes widen and your hands immediately find themselves smacking Soobin’s arm. “Ya, I never said that!”

Soobin, however, is unflinching as he maintains his stance calmly. “You don’t have to say it. Yeonjun and I watched you two grow up too, you know.” He states matter-of-factly. “If you really love him as a best friend first and foremost, you’d still go up there even with all of your excuses and conflicted feelings about tonight. I promise you, destiny protects certain events to make sure that they happen so just go up there freely and talk to him, it’s fine.

“Besides, you’ve been putting this up for three weeks now, shouldn’t it be time that you do something about it? Knowing Taehyun and how Athena’s kids hold grudges, it’s probably just as hard on him as it is on you too.” He concludes, standing up and dragging you with him on your feet easily. “He needs you there, Y/N. Don’t keep him waiting for too long.”

“Will you make that cure for broken heart when he breaks mine right after?”

Soobin rolls his eyes but proceeds to drag you out of the infirmary anyway. “We’ll just have to see.”

♡

Taehyun is wearing the green plaid flannel from the flea market over a cream-coloured hoodie and jeans, purple hair styled neatly and a silver earring on one ear. When you spot him as you arrive at the campfire, he stands by the drinks table with a glass of ambrosia and his brows furrowed in thought. Kazuha stands in front of him in full armour and sheaths on her hips, most likely from the games with the Hunters of Artemis that you organized this afternoon, and showing something on her phone.

The dread you’ve been harboring the whole summer rises up your throat along with the full weight of the last part of your vision happening in real-time. Instead of running away like in your vision, however, Soobin just holds you in place before letting go and disappearing into the party when Taehyun spots you over Kazuha’s shoulders.

“Y/N!” He calls for you, eyes wide in what you’re surprised to find as worry. Walking past Kazuha, he sets down his glass and takes another tentative step forward to you. “Wait, it’s not—”

“Can I talk to you?” You interject, gulping down your nervousness. You’re nervous about what you’re going to say to him but, most importantly, you worry about the fact that you didn’t see this part in your vision. “Alone, if that’s okay.”

Taehyun immediately nods, almost as if he was expecting you to ask, and jogs the rest of the distance to you. “Let’s go somewhere quieter.” He says, extending his hand to take yours before quickly retracting it and walking past you. “Come on.”

You follow him away from the bonfire quietly, stopping a few meters from the canoe lake and away from the path campers usually take.

“Look, Taehyun—”

“Y/N, I swear—”

You both back away from each other in surprise, Taehyun coughing awkwardly while you immediately avert your gaze in embarrassment.

“You first.” Taehyun eventually suggests with another cough, hands digging deep in his flannel’s pockets from the cold breeze that blows past.

“No, it’s okay, you can go first.” You insist awkwardly, finding interest in the soil under your boots as you avoid his gaze.

“Y/N.” He calls for you sternly, taking a step forward and making you look up at him. “We won’t get anywhere if we just keep tossing the conversation to each other. Just go ahead.”

There’s a long pause between the two of you as you try and stare him down, but to no avail. Sighing, you then give in and speak first. “I wanted to apologize for the thing with Beomgyu last time. I didn’t mean to upset you by playing along with the dare and letting him charmspeak me.”

“Oh that. No, it’s—”

“I’m really sorry for not apologizing sooner too.” You continue to ramble on, zoning out in your own words that you fail to notice how Taehyun’s eyes have softened from your words. “At first, I thought I’d give you time to cool off while I thought about what happened but then I let it drag on for so long because I didn’t know how to approach you when you were actively avoiding me and everything. I should’ve just went for it instead, like I’ve always done, but a lot of things were holding me back—”

“Y/N—“

“—like you’re always tense when I try approaching, especially when Beomgyu’s around, and you gave me a different position for Capture the Flag two weeks ago. I just knew from those things that you’re more upset than usual and that I should be extra careful with what I say to you—”

“Y/N—”

“—then, there’s also the fact that you’re meeting your soulmate and I kept using it as an excuse to myself that if I talk to you before, during, or even after tonight and mess up, I can’t forgive myself for making you angrier or, worse, ruining your night. Then, there’s also the fact that I—”

“Kazuha’s not my soulmate.”

You close your mouth immediately, at the same time as your eyes widen in surprise. Taehyun takes the opportunity to step closer to you.

“But, you were there, exactly like my vision...”

Taehyun shakes his head. “She was showing me her soulmate while explaining how she can see the red strings.” He clarifies matter-of-factly, gradually picking up speed in his speaking once more. Half of the weight on your chest and shoulders leave, only to quickly return when he continues speaking, “Then, she told me something else. Well, confirmed something for me, really.”

You gulp, feeling your mouth dry up as you ask, “W-What is it?”

Taehyun takes a moment to respond, filling in the silence by finally taking your hands in his. "It’s you, Y/N.” He sighs in relief, catching your eyes with his sincere ones. He smiles softly at you. “It’s always been you.”

When you don’t speak or react beyond wide eyes and a slacked jaw, he continues. “Since I gave you that sweatshirt when you first came to camp and the 3rd grade when you made sure I wasn’t cold by practicing your thermal manipulation on me. Since we were first allowed to head classes on our own and you made sure that I ate and rested between sessions because that was also the summer when we were so understaffed because older campers were going on quests. Then when we got stuck at the Lotus Casino and I didn’t want to tell you what made me snap out of it but I can tell you now that it was my mom getting in my head and telling me to save you.” He releases a long exhale, his normally confident and composed demeanor slouching up to what you couldn’t believe as nervousness. “I wasn’t really upset with you or Beomgyu that night and I really am sorry for how I’ve been acting. I was just angry with myself for not doing anything then—and for not doing anything about my feelings until now, even—and that made me even angrier with myself that I couldn’t bring myself to just talk to you. I was just really embarrassed.

“Kazuha’s not my soulmate, she just happened to be confirming it for me when you arrived. She actually approached me in the first place because she worried about us, mainly you and the red string she’s been seeing around us this whole time. But whatever, red string or not, I’ll only ever be in love with you in this lifetime and the next. It’s you, Y/N, and it’ll only ever be you for me.”

Taehyun’s breathless at the end of his mini speech and you’re effectively caught off-guard, hands unconsciously warming up in his.

“Y-You...you’re in love with me?” You repeat incredulously, feeling your heart pound in your eardrums. When you try and loosen your hands from Taehyun’s grip, worrying that you won’t be able to control your body heat as your emotions rise, he only resists.

“If that’s okay.” He purses his lips worriedly. “Look, we’ve talked about it last time. It could be platonic if you want. Like you’ve said—”

“That was before I knew you were in love with me! I was thinking Kazuha was your soulmate that time!” You interject quickly. “I...I just thought that I love you too much and that I wanted you to be happy before anything else.

“Listen, when I dreamt my vision of you earlier this summer and saw someone else with you in the end, I just thought that was it, it was over for me. How can I compete with someone you were destined with? I’m just your best friend who’s stupid enough to wait until I thought I was about to lose you to do something.”

“Don’t say that.”

You sniffle lightly as you speak, not expecting yourself to break this easily with all the overwhelming emotions coming to you all at once. Taking a deep breath, you then continue, “So I just pushed my feelings aside tried pushing you to your destiny because that’s what the Oracle told me to do, that regardless of whether I want the future or not I have to deliver it. I wanted you to be happy first even when I wasn’t and I wanted you to meet your soulmate so I had to say all of those things but I really, really love you, Tyun—as more than a friend, if it wasn’t clear to you already.”

“Did you never consider that it could be you?” Taehyun frowns, cradling your face gently as you catch your breath. “That I’d feel the same way?”

“I didn’t think you’d choose me that way, at least until now.” You shrug unsurely, voice getting embarrassingly small towards the end. Taehyun shakes his head in disapproval. “Not against people as beautiful as Kazuha, at least...maybe even Zeus kids like Yeji and Chan or—”

“That won’t do, my love.” He tsks softly, wrapping his other arm around your waist and leaning closer until his lips are only an inch away from yours. You look up at him with bated breath, closing your eyes when he connects your lips briefly for a kiss. “Don’t ever think like that again, please.”

It’s sweet and chase but also desperate and yearning, Taehyun gently pulling you as close to him as possible while you raise your arms up to his neck.

“Gods, I thought you didn’t have to worry about things like this. Child of the sun and all.” He chuckles lowly on the crook of your neck, hugging you comfortingly as he moves to littering more kisses down your neck. “But I’ll gladly prove it to you right now and for the rest of time.”

You scoff through a few tears that have slipped down your cheek, patting his back once. “Since when did you get this cheesy, hm?”

“It’s just for you, don’t worry, my love.” He assures, lifting his head up to capture your lips once more.

♡

(bonus)

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you invited your childhood best friend and boyfriend, Kang Taehyun the son of Athena, on a date at the strawberry fields right after a day of patrolling camp borders. You had it all planned out according to what you saw: a nice picnic dinner of yours and Taehyun’s favorite foods that you prepared with Kazuha and Yunjin, a playlist of music you’ve curated for him over the past week (and some from your archives of the past years), your prettiest picnic outfit, candles, your dad’s missing chariot that you may or may not have swiped while he went on vacation to Egypt, and a pair of wings-shaped earrings you’ve been secretly making at the workshops with the help of Yeonjun and Beomgyu.

(Well, the earrings aren’t actually part of the dream but you did see yourself giving him a gift and Taehyun did mention something about wanting to make earrings for himself for some time now so you thought of going just a little off-course and bring it along.)

“Eight PM sharp tonight! Don’t be late, I have a surprise!” You remind Taehyun as you pass by him on the way to the forge, pressing a kiss up to his cheek before reluctantly letting go of his hand when Hueningkai complains about being late to his session with the Hephaestus kids. “Oh, and wear that fitted black shirt you have! I hung it in front of your closet yesterday.”

“Will do, love. Oh, and I also have a surprise.” Taehyun winks with a grin, ruffling your hair with a fond smile. “Unless you saw it in your dream then just pretend that it’s a surprise.”

You have a hunch but not because you saw it in your dream, rather because Taehyun’s not that discreet with going around camp with his guitar and because Yeonjun accidentally let it spill to you that your boyfriend had him order something for you a few weeks ago. Apparently, it was something fresh and yellow that he was planning to preserve and you remember mentioning in passing at a workshop class about how you were interested in flower preservation.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You feign ignorance, making him roll his eyes while you laugh. “I’ll see you tonight, genius.”

“I’ll see you tonight, stupid.”

♡

taglist: @choisuebin @forever-in-the-sky2 @rencarnationofangel @hyukalovie

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