"There's a curse on that sword,"
"No sh*t," you snorted, crossing your arms as you peered at the long, reddish-bronze blade resting innocently on the long mahogany table that you and Adra had spent many a day working and discussing on. The large display room that now held your Ancient Greek exhibit, previously unused, was where you usually did most of your work (both for the museum and school, when you had time), and now, with Taehyung beside you and Adra across from you, it seemed that you'd be doing some more of that.
Work. Ugh. Lord spare me.
"No need to be snippy, Y/N," Adra admonished, almost making you feel like this was just another normal day at the museum.
Which it certainly wasn't, considering your boss had the lower body of a lion.
YEP, NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY WHATSOEVER.
"Yes, well, perhaps you would be snappish as well if you knew the curse was gods-given," Taehyung shifted a little closer to you and fixed his dark gaze on the sphinx on the other side of the table, serious for once. Adra groaned.
"Styx!" she huffed as she took a swig out of one of the many half-empty waterbottles that littered the table. It was an odd habit of hers, to always pop out a new one even when she wasn't finished.
Probably some weird sphinx-related hoarding syndrome.
Honestly, now that you knew about this, a lot of things were starting to make sense. Like, owning a museum? Sphinxes in mythology were notorious treasure hoarders and guarders, and there was no lack of old, fancy items in here (and how many of those were magic? You'd perhaps never know). Things were piecing themselves together in your mind, the entire tapestry weaving in perfectly.
Frankly, you thought there'd be more pointless denial.
The fact that there wasn't kind of scared you.
"Yes, it's bad," Taehyung smirked at Adra's reaction before leaning in to you, voice so low you had to strain your ears to hear it, "but so am I, baby, and so are all the things I want to do to you."
Well, 'annoying flirty Taehyung' was back and you were NOT enjoying it, no matter how much your blush tried to announce otherwise.
"I will slice your d*ck off," you huffed, turning away from him, which only made him shake his head and chuckle lightly. Was it a bad idea threatening the guy who literally had a destructive temper tantrum last chapte- whoops, sorry, a few minutes ago? Yes. Most definitely.
But was that going to stop you?
No.
Adra did not seem to be taken with Taehyung at the moment either. She sat back on her haunches and batted at the blade on the table with a large forepaw, claws sheathed. "What did you even DO to make the gods that angry?" she huffed, scrutinizing the sword further.
It didn't take a genius to know that this question stabbed at a sensitive nerve in Taehyung. His smirk hardened, lips twisting coldly as the set of his jaw grew tight. It was like a wall of ice had slammed down on his emotions, on his thoughts, cutting himself off from the entire world.
There was a heartbeat of tense silence.
"When you don't follow the gods' orders," Taehyung finally laughed, the noise sharp and icy, "these type of things tend to happen."
Adra gave him a funny look, but she didn't ask him to elaborate.
This guy is literally a f*cking pendulum I swear to GOD-
"ANYWAY," you coughed, trying yet again to alleviate the tension, "basically if our skin comes into contact, he gets pulled back into that thing." To emphasize your point, you jabbed a finger at Taehyung's face, an irrational satisfaction rolling through you at his faint flinch.
You boss snorted. "And I'm sure that's such a shame for your son of Ares, hm?"
You flushed, but Taehyung didn't even had the decency to look embarrassed. His smile just turned wolfish and predatory as he glanced back at you.
"All the more incentive to break it," he purred, making your face twist up in disgust.
"As if I'd let you lay a finger on me either way," you scoffed, shoving at his chest and then promptly wincing when you felt his firm muscles ripple under your palm. "Keep dreaming."
"Don't worry," he chuckled at the quick retraction of your fingers, mischief glinting in his eyes, "I will. Of you."
You rolled your eyes.
"Behave, you two," the sphinx in front of you both quirked her lip up, seeming to fight back laughter at your banter, "and don't kill each other. I need to confirm something, I'll be back in a moment."
With that, Adra started away, beginning to pad out of the room on her four sleek legs with the hypnotic, graceful movements of a cat, her wings beginning to flare. Taehyung watched her warily, fingers twitching as if itching to reach for his sword. Adra turned back for a moment, her gold eyes focusing on the two of you.
"And a word of advice, warchild. Don't bite with Athena's children," Adra chuckled, eyes glittering in amusement as Taehyung straightened under her stare, "they bite back."
And with that, she weaved through the door, leaving silence behind.
The words 'Athena's children' still did not click right in your mind- it took you a moment to register that she was talking about you. Huffing, your gaze involuntarily fell to the floor. Only a couple of words... and you felt like a stranger in your own skin. You wanted to claw this new title off you so you could go back to feeling like you again.
It wasn't like you'd get any special-ness from knowing, either. All you had was your mouth and your mind, and even if a Greek god's blood ran through you, nothing else would surface. It didn't help that you were being so overburdened with information that your brain seemed to move sluggishly, as if drugged.
Ugh. Your eyes fell on the sword that had summoned this entire disaster into your life.
Taehyung and his stupid sword.
But... perhaps it wasn't a coincidence. Perhaps what had happened to you could have ONLY happened to you. It had been tickling at your mind for quite some time, but you hadn't found the conviction to speak it, in fear of it being true.
But now, you wanted to know.
There was a hot stare on your side profile, on your teeth nagging at your lips, on your fingers winding themselves through your hair. Taehyung's eyes burned into you with intensity as you flicked your gaze up to meet his, your own E/C irises narrowing.
Your traitorous heart pulsed just a bit more intensely as you fell under the trap of his stare.
F*ck's sake.
"What is it?" he murmured after a moment of silence, his own long digits raking his red hair back as he looked away, almost shy (except that was stupid- this cocky bastard was never shy), "What is it that you've figured out?"
Were you that transparent? How did he even know?
At your furrowed eyebrows, Taehyung let out a small laugh, shuffling just a little bit closer to you. His fingers reached out and hovered over your cheek, so close you could feel the warmth permeating through the thin sliver of air separating your skin. "Pretty one, the aura of Athena surrounds you when you do that. I cannot believe I never saw it before."
Shoot. His voice was surprisingly soft, vulnerable.
God freaking darn it he's making my heart race.
Why.
Whyyyyy-
"When I-" you coughed, trying to ignore the heat that burned under your skin, "when I do what?"
"When you think," he tilted his head, a grin beginning to pull at his lips.
"Oh wow, not like I do that every second," you snorted, batting his fingers away with your sweater paws, the proximity of his hand making you severely uncomfortable.
Taehyung shook his head in exasperation, although he was still smiling. "No, it is like..." he brandished his arms around in a struggle to find the right words, "when you REALLY think."
You knew what he meant, but your mischievous streak decided not to let it go. "Very eloquent," you said dryly.
"I'm sure you are aware of what I mean!" he gave up, throwing his hands in the air, reverting back to his odd, lilted speech and eliciting a giggle from you.
A giggle.
A F*CKING GIGGLE.
SINCE WHEN DID YOU GIGGLE???
You were starting to go insane, theory: confirmed.
Taehyung watched you with a pleased expression, your light laugh seeming to loosen him up as well. "You are cute, pretty one," he cooed teasingly, which made you fight a growl, "but you'd look better beneath me."
You choked on air at the motherf*cking duality and tried to ignore Taehyung's snickers.
"Shut up," you huffed after you'd straightened up, crossing your hands over your chest. Before he could say anything else to rile you, though, you spoke up. "You were asking what I was thinking," you blurted in a rush, which made Taehyung pause in his teasing and look at you, "and... I was just... look, Athena put the curse on your sword, right?"
The red-haired demigod nodded carefully, his face suddenly sobering up, taking a step back and watching you with apprehension.
"And... I-"
"You-"
"Have Athena's blood."
The both of you spoke at the same time, in unison, the spoken thought making your locked eyes widen.
You let out a long breath, letting your gaze fall from his entrancing irises. God, you'd been right. You actually WERE related to the Greek goddess of wisdom. You felt your heart plummet to the soles of your feet- you had truly not wanted to believe it.
You wanted to cry all over again, you truly did. The salty tears were already beginning to prick at the back of your eyes as you swiftly spun away from Taehyung, hand winding through the strands of hair at the base of your neck, pulling hard enough to hurt. Of course. Of course it HAD to be you.
WHY was it you? There was nothing god-like about you whatsoever- you certainly didn't look as divine and shining as Taehyung, nor did you have much of anything that would set you apart from anyone else. You were normal.
Except evidently, you weren't.
It was as if you were hearing it for the first time- the words had caught up to you, they were the reason for the nausea in your gut and the throbbing in your head and-
Taehyung's hand was on your shoulder.
Gently, pressing firmly enough so you followed his guiding touch, he spun you around carefully and peered at your face, your eyes wild and expression cold. "I know what you are thinking, pretty one," he smiled at you, sincerely enough that it made your gut twist even more, for some reason.
"Oh really?" you managed to laugh, although your voice sounded painfully tight, even to you, "And what's that?"
"Are you scared?" his lips quirked up at your brave front, his dark eyes careful as he looked down at you.
Close. Too close.
As if he could hear your thoughts, he smirked at your silence and shifted just a little closer.
"Ha," you said dryly, looking away from him, "not so much scared as unsettled. I certainly don't... feel god-like."
"If it makes you feel better, you do not seem that way to me either," Taehyung raised his chin imperiously, raising an eyebrow at your casual appearance as his eyes raked you up and down. You rolled your eyes and stepped back, Taehyung's words slowly making your mind lift from the hole of shock it had fallen into.
"Very funny," you deadpanned, ignoring the smirk that was still climbing on the red-haired demigod's face at your reaction.
"You are still very pretty!" he defended (which made you choke back a snort of disbelief), although his eyes were still overflowing with mirth, "just not in comparison to my perfection."
You scoffed, pretending his words stung as you let your eyes narrow at him. "You're not making things better for yourself."
Taehyung grinned at your mock-irritated expression, going along with the involuntary challenge of words you'd thrown yourselves into. "Aren't I?"
What were you doing? You were acting like you actually enjoyed his company, like you were more than just unfortunate acquaintances, like you truly knew each other.
This shouldn't have been happening.
"Wow, pretty one, don't feel THAT bad," Taehyung watched your expression fill with indecision and quickly spoke again to prevent any awkwardness.
You looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. "And who said I felt bad? Your standards can't be that high anyway, if all you do it praise your mediocre looks."
Lies. Taehyung was gorgeous, flawless; you were SUCH a liar, and Taehyung probably knew it, because his smirk just widened as he looked at you.
Fingers trailing on the wooden table, he stepped closer to you, his brow quirking almost menacingly. You just leaned back on your heels and crossed your arms over your chest, doing your absolute best to seem unimpressed even though you really wanted to hide from his shameless stare.
"You lie," he chuckled huskily, now so close he could have kissed you if he leaned down just a tinge. You involuntarily leaned backwards, but again, refused to let him win. "Oh, darling, I know you'd do anything to be under me. It's alright, that's normal."
Why was he such a cocky little sh*t?
Someone NEEDED to knock him down a peg.
"Don't be so sure," you popped, smirk rising on your own face at the faint flash of surprise mixed with irritation that flickered over the scarlet-locked demigod at your balant challenge.
"Seems like you need to cleanse your eyes, pretty one, so you can truly see," Taehyung leaned forward even more, his lips a breath away from yours, all but whispering his words against them and you prepared your hands to b*tch slap this boy into the next dimension if he so much as tried anything until-
What the f*ck. Why were you WET?
You spluttered as a cold wave of water hit you square in the face, and you stepped back, fingers instantly going to your eyes to wipe them clean.
Oh good god. Your entire face and neck and upper torso were DRENCHED, your hair glinting with droplets of water, the dim museum lights making them shine like jewels. Your thin sweater did nothing to prevent the freezing liquid from coating your skin, your face already spread over with a sheen that glimmered, trails of water coursing in rivulets down your cheeks.
And then there was Taehyung, his eyes bright and lips pursed, holding in laughter as he watched you gape at him in disbelief, his fingers still wrapped around a now-empty waterbottle.
"You-" spluttering, you gaped at him as your fingers flicked droplets off them absentmindedly, "you did not just-"
"Did that help?" he cocked his head innocently, although his smirk still showed him for what he was- a little sh*t-, his eyes comically wide. "Can you see my utter perfection now?"
Raking your wet hair back, you tipped your head back and glared at him.
Ohhh no, your pretty face isn't going to save you this time.
One thing was for sure.
This would not end well.
So you two were pretty unceremoniously thrown out of the museum when you drenched the entire damn room, yourselves with it.
But Taehyung's face when you ripped the top off the first bottle you could reach and flung its entire contents at him was utterly PRICELESS, so perhaps it was worth it.
Perhaps.
His eyes screwed had themselves shut as his head snapped to the side, his hair turning a deeper shade of scarlet as the water drenched it, the liquid bursting all over his right cheek and onto his clothes. Beads of the glittering liquid trailed down his veiny neck as he held that position for a moment.
He slowly looked back at you, his face painted with the residue of disbelief as his large hand brushed against the water coating his skin, the shine covering his palm as well.
"For all tha- holy-" he stuttered, clearly at a loss for words. Now it was your turn to hold back the bouts of laughter that were beginning to shake your body.
"Ouch, little demigod, that looks awful," you cooed in mock sympathy, making Taehyung's shock slowly smooth into irritation but then something slightly wickeder, more playful, "what happened? Did you lose an eyelash?"
He shook his head, still in slight disbelief, and yet suddenly grinning. "My clever girl has got a bite to her, hm?"
My clever girl.
F*ck.
The sudden burst of heat in your gut had made it hard for you to breathe, god, why did he have to sound so annoyingly hot when he said it like that? Why did he have to say it like that in the first place?!
"Adra did warn you," you finally forced out, desperately ignoring Taehyung's possessive phrasing.
Reaching for another bottle, Taehyung smirked widen and never broke eye contact with you as you snatched a few of your own and backpedaled, a sudden wild, competitive grin breaking over your face.
No WAY you were going to let him win this.
"That she did."
When your sphinx curator found you, the two of you were soaked head to toe, a good couple of the display artifacts along with you two, empty bottles littered all over the floor that wasn't looking too great itself, with the puddles and skid marks and the occasional stray artifact you two had bumped from it's place in your mad dash around the room and all.
Oh yeah, and also Taehyung had climbed on top of the glass display case, flattened out as he teased your unamused form beneath. You had finally just chucked the waterbottle at his face, snickering as it bonked him in the middle of his forehead, and he gaped at you in disbelief.
Did you mention that?
To be very honest, Adra had every reason to be pissed.
And boy, was she pissed.
But... amidst all her glares and scarily lion-like snarls, you got the impression, as you and Taehyung sheepishly stood side by side, watching her warily, that she wasn't surprised.
"What was I thinking, leaving two warchildren alone in a room together?" she snorted, shooting a look at you two as she delicately wound her way around the room on her four legs, avoiding the puddles of water with pure distaste. "You two were obviously going to tear each other to shreds."
You exchanged a wary look with the tall, broad-shouldered demigod beside you, but said nothing.
"Y/N," Adra's full attention was on you, balantly ignoring Taehyung, and yet you fought the urge to flinch under her slitted gold stare, "there's nothing more I can do for you. I read the residue of the curse from one of my own god-touched objects, and it's not good. You being a decendant of Athena perhaps weakened his cage enough for you to let him out, but I do not know how to break this. Two gods joined their power to make it- it's ridiculously powerful."
From beside you, you heard Taehyung shift slightly and let out a quiet, slow sigh.
"I'm afraid you're stuck with him," Adra had continued, chuckling a little as a hopeless look washed over your face, your groan and facepalm sealing the deal.
Taehyung smirked at you suddenly, clearly finding amusement in your distress. "Aw, pretty, it's not ALL bad," he purred, his fingers teasing the wet cloth of your sweater.
"Oh no," Adra choked at the sight of him leaning in slightly and your own face twisting in annoyance, "NOT in my museum. EsPECIALLY not after what you did."
And that was how you two got kicked out.
You just had to hope now that your competitive streak hadn't lost you your internship.
You were pretty sure it hadn't. Fairly. Reasonably.
The walk to your apartment was a quiet one, surprisingly, you and Taehyung close together to at least try to hide the large bronze blade between you two from any curious person passing by.
The long shadows of dusk painted the sidewalks with dark over the shining orange that the sun brought, your footsteps battering the serene view the sunset brought. Street lamps beginning to flicker on, you wondered if you should take your car from the front of the coffee shop to shorten the ten minute walk to a two minute drive, but decided not to. After all, you didn't need Taehyung to break something again.
A gust of wind buffeted your wet H/C hair and you trembled lightly, your arms involuntarily coming to wrap around your icy form. Taehyung glanced at you, his own red hair following the breeze.
And yet while you just looked all the more bedraggled, he just seemed to grow more wind-kissed and beautiful.
Life just wasn't fair sometimes.
"Are you cold?" Taehyung's deep voice broke the silence you two had built, his eyes fixed on you.
"Ha," you snorted dryly, "no."
Although you very clearly were, but who honestly gave a f*ck?
Taehyung raised his eyebrows and looked straight ahead, scoffing lightly. "Right. And you are shivering because...?"
"My conscious is horrified that I did not beat your a*s well enough at our water fight in the museum," you said seriously.
Taehyung gave you one look and burst into laughter, his lips stretching into a surprisingly adorable box-shaped smile as he guffawed.
You stopped at his form that was bent over in snickers, put your weight on one foot and crossed your arms and raised an eyebrow and waited for him to finish.
Okay, he's done, ah lo- nope, I spoke too soon, he's back at it.
"Gods above," Taehyung shook his head and chuckled after he'd finally recovered, leaning on his sword for support, his dark eyes bright and kind of admiring. "you- I just-"
"I'm brilliant, I'm aware," you sassed.
"Hm," shaking his mussed scarlet hair out of his eyes, the son of Ares turned away, still smiling. "something like that."
Satisfied that he'd left your lie well enough alone, you turned, looking straight ahead once more, walking quietly, peacefully. The water fight you'd had with Taehyung had effectively taken your mind off all your stress and shock and confusion- you felt oddly light at the moment, oddly relaxed.
It was strange, how you fell so easily into banter and play with this demigod. You certainly didn't trust him, and you didn't want his dirty jokes or perverted mind or wandering hands anywhere near you, and yet...
You kind of liked talking to him.
Kind of.
KIND OF.
And not even that.
But...
Kind of.
Suddenly, Taehyung threw an arm around you, drawing you closer to him with a quick yank like he'd done in the Target parking lot. You straightened up, twisting your head to glare at him, but he just met your gaze with a winning grin.
"I'm cold," he whined, "and wet. But mostly cold."
"That sounds like a you problem," you huffed, beginning to shove his lean limb off you when he protested, gripping your shoulder tighter.
"Aren't you cold too?" he pouted, the expression on his face literally melting you as you watched. Ugh. Why did all this have to happen to you?
Finally, after a moment of tense silence, you sighed in defeat, slowly relaxing in his grip. You WERE cold. And he WAS warm- deliciously so, the heat wafting off his broad frame doing nothing but begging you to cuddle closer.
For F*CK'S sake-
"Fine," you finally relented, which made the usually-seductive demigod beside you whoop in victory.
His arm draped over you and his side pressed against you and his grin wide and beaming, you couldn't help your small, shy smile back.
You were going insane.
Theory: was there any doubt at this point?
A/N: Wow this chapter was kinda long but I honestly kinda liked it hehe... just throwing this out there, I think the wild stuff's gonna start in a few chaps, so consider yourselves warned. Thanks for sticking with me so far! Vote and comment before Y/N stabs out your eyeballs lmao jkjk but actually-