"ah! i had a very pleasant flight sitting next to you, thunderbolt." jaemin said unbuckling his seatbelt while throwing a charming smile at jeno.
"yeah." zeus' son nodded, his eyes never leaving mark's and donghyuck's seats.
"did you enjoy my company?" jaemin asked cheerfully.
"yeah." jeno replied, uninterested by the subject, but concentrated on mark who was waking donghyuck up from his sleep.
"aww, i'm glad!" jaemin clapped his hands happily.
"you act so much different from your usual self." a voice interrupted their conversation, making jaemin's smile transform into a frown.
"shut the fuck up, huang. you have nothing to do with me." jaemin spat immediately.
"i take back what i said." renjun shrugged, rolling his eyes to the back of his head before heading to the door.
jaemin snorted, looking at renjun's figure walking away.
"i don't get why you two argue so much." jeno stated. "renjun is a nice guy."
"no, he isn't." jaemin replied quickly.
"i assure you he is. he was very kind with me."
jaemin tsked. "he wants to be well-seen from zeus' son."
"i'm not sure that's why he was kind... maybe he's just someone cool to be around."
jaemin glared at renjun who was smiling at the lady that had opened the plane's door.
"he's arrogant, and he thinks his knowledge can solve everything. i hate his mindset." jaemin spoke.
"i think it's funny how you two have such different methods with things." jeno chuckled.
"my way is better." jaemin told.
"i don't know... it depends on the person. i know donghyuck is more of a thinker, like renjun." jeno explained as he started walking to the door, following jaemin.
"and you?" jaemin asked, turning around abruptly, making jeno's chest collide with his, and making their noses touch.
both boys couldn't help but blush slightly at the sudden contact they had had before stepping back a bit.
"h-huh... what about you...?" jaemin asked again, looking everywhere but into jeno's eyes.
"i-i... i prefer your methods..." jeno admitted, making jaemin look at him straight in the eye with a radiant smile.
"for real? you prefer me to renjun?" jaemin questioned, his eyes full of hope.
"that's not what i said." jeno was quick to correct. "but i'm like you, i use my strength instead of my brain."
"so, you prefer me." jaemin snickered, patting jeno's shoulder.
"i- "
"hey, you two, stop blocking the way to have boyfriends talks. you can do that in your hotel room tonight." mark interrupted them, pushing them aside and passing while dragging donghyuck by his wrist.
"w-we were n-not..." jeno stuttered, his cheeks so red that he looked like a giant tomato.
next to him, jaemin wasn't in the same state.
somehow, mark's words had made him think about something.
boyfriends talks...
did that mean that jeno and him looked good as boyfriends?
because jeno fitted perfectly his taste in terms of men.
Ω
"so, now that we're here, what do we do?" renjun asked once all the boys had exited the airport, now standing on a line in front of the main doors.
"we take a taxi to the city." mark explained. "and we need to find a hotel."
"do we even have money for that?" jeno asked sceptically.
"lots of money!" chenle exclaimed, opening his bag that was full of japanese bills.
donghyuck stared at the inside of the bag with wide eyes, not believing what he was seeing.
"where did you get all of this?!" he asked.
"he stole it, where else?" renjun rolled his eyes.
"you stole all that money?!" donghyuck asked again.
"stealing is my hobby. i'm hermes' son, don't forget about it." chenle explained, smiling widely at donghyuck.
"oh... i tend to forget about... you know? how every of us have some abilities thanks to our parents."donghyuck nodded.
"it's okay, don't worry!" chenle patted his back. "it takes some time to accept it. don't pressure yourself."
"thanks."
jisung coughed, interrupting their interaction before anything more could happen.
he was jealous, and he knew it very well.
"how about we call a taxi?" he declared, making all the boys nod.
"who is going to speak? because i don't know anything about japanese." donghyuck said.
"i do." chenle answered proudly. "the perks of being hermes' son!"
"woah, you can speak japanese?" donghyuck's eyes widened again.
"japanese, and basically any other language!"
"you're so cool!" donghyuck chuckled. "what can't you do, seriously?"
chenle laughed out loud. "nothing."
"except shutting up when you're asked to, staying calm, reciting the alphabet backwards- "
"jisung, what are you doing?" renjun raised a brow. "this isn't expose chenle hour."
"yeah, sure." jisugn rolled his eyes.
"TAXI!!" chenle exclaimed, waving his arms happily at a van that was passing next to them.
the driver stopped next to them, and after exchanging a few words with chenle in japanese, the seven boys were invited to hop in. once they were all sat down, the driver started the car.
chenle had required to sit next to donghyuck, so he was.
behind them were sitting jisung – who kept glaring at chenle – jaemin and mark, the three of them staying silent and just resting or watching the landscape.
on the very back row were sitting renjun and jeno.
the two boys at the back hadn't talked much at the beginning of their journey, but with time going on, they both started getting more comfortable and conversing peacefully.
"how was your flight with jaemin?" renjun asked, looking at jeno. "wasn't he too annoying?"
"it was good." jeno replied. "i enjoy his company a lot."
"can't relate to that." renjun chuckled.
"you're missing something, really. he seems to be a very good person." jeno told.
"i know. i see that he's very appreciated in the camp by girls." renjun explained. "i'm sure being is friend would be cool. we're just not on the best terms because of our fighting rivalry."
"that's sad." jeno pouted.
"things are the way they are." renjun shrugged. "but it shouldn't matter now. we're on a mission for the half-blood camp. we can't let our rivalry haunt us. he's aware of that too."
jeno nodded. "you're right."
there was a short silence between the two boys.
"do you know what we are going to do now that we're in tokyo?" renjun asked.
"not really." jeno shrugged. "hide. and in a few days leave."
"and what if they catch us?" renjun questioned.
"why thinking about us failing so soon?" jeno raised a brow.
"i'm an intellectual. i like having plans for any situation." renjun explained. "it helps me release my stress."
jeno chuckled at renjun's words.
"you're stressed?"
"i always am." renjun nodded energetically. "but now more than ever."
"why so?"
"what if we don't manage to protect donghyuck? or any of us? what if something bad happens? what if we get separated? what if- "
"renjun, calm down..." jeno whispered, passing an arm around renjun's shaking shoulders to ease him a bit.
"s-sorry..." renjun lowered his head, leaning on jeno's side for comfort. "it's the first important thing i'm doing in my life. i'd like to make my mom proud, but i'm putting too much pressure on myself..."
"hear me out, renjun, we're a team now, everyone of us will protect the others at all costs. and i assure you that nothing bad will happen to us." jeno spoke slowly but clearly, his eyes starign right into renjun's ones.
the smaller boy nodded slowly, a small smile appearing on his face as he allowing his body to melt against jeno's broader one.
jeno was really made for him, he was sure of that.
Ω
"arigato!" chenle exclaimed as all the boys stepped down of the car into the busy streets of the japanese capital.
the taxi left, allowing them to look at the very urbanized landscape, full of people.
"woah." jisung let out, impressed by the view. "i never knew it could be like that."
"there are so much people..." jaemin declared, looking around.
"enough talking. we need to find a hotel." mark stated, stepping into the crowd, and soon being followed by the other boys.
they all made their way across the crowd, looking around to search for an hotel they could rest in.
"there!" jaemin exclaimed, pointing at a giant sign further in the street on which was drawn a bed, indicating that it was a hotel.
"let's head there." mark nodded before going back to walking.
a few steps behind him, renjun had his eyes fixed on the sky, looking at a bird that looked a bit too big for his liking.
"mark! wait!" renjun called him, making him turn around.
"what again?" mark asked, visibly annoyed.
"come here." renjun said.
mark let the other boys pass in front of him as he walked towards renjun.
"yeah?"
"look up, at the top of this building." renjun said, walking beside mark as if everything was normal.
the older boy did as he was told quickly.
"yeah, and?" he asked.
"i'm sure it's a harpy." renjun whispered.
"renjun, there's nothing up there." mark stated, making renjun look up immediately.
"huh?"
"AHHHHHH!!!"
both mark and renjun turned around, only to see the crowd of people screaming and pointing at a huge thing flying in their direction.
"fuck!" mark let out, running towards the group of boys with renjun.
the flying thing fell on the ground, making the earth around tremble a bit.
it seemed to be a huge piece of cement, as if the top of a building had fallen from the sky.
and it seemed like it was the case, because a second later, other large pieces of cement fell from the sky, making the crowd panic and run away, leaving the place empty – at the exception of the seven demigods who were still standing there.
"w-what is happening?" donghyuck asked worriedly.
"we're under attack." jeno replied, looking around to spot the main threat.
"b-by who?"
"them." mark said as a dozen of harpies landed on the ground around them.
donghyuck's heartbeat started beating erratically inside his chest at the sight of those women with giant birds' wings and huge teeth.
"w-w-what do w-we do...?" he asked, on the verge of passing out.
"we fight." mark answered, as the creatures surrounding them flew towards them.