jeno looked through the inside mirror at the four boys on the back seat.

donghyuck was watching the landscape as chenle had fallen asleep on his shoulder. renjun was alose dozing off, his head hitting the head rest every now and then. and jaemin was looking right into jeno's eyes, with a huge smirk.

jeno coughed when he noticed jaemin staring at him, concentrating on the road again.

"jeno... i need to go to the toilet." donghyuck said, breaking the silence.

"i'll stop at the next gas station." he declared. "we also need to fill in the tank."

"thanks." donghyuck smiled as he got back to looking outside the window.

they didn't really know where they were going.

the boys had emerged from under the ground two hours ago, and they were now far away from las vegas, driving towards the north. but to where? none of them could tell.

"gas station!" jeno exclaimed as he left the main road to enter the gas station. "you can go have a walk and buy some things to eat or drink. don't forget to stay by pairs."

donghyuck unfastened his seatbelt, waking chenle up in the process.

"where are we?" hermes' son asked, his eyes half-closed.

"in a gas station. i need to go to the toilet." donghyuck explained.

"i'll go too." chenle told as he unfastened himself as well.

the two boys left the car, heading towards the little shop that was next to the gas pumps.

chenle walked in first, donghyuck on his heels, as they headed towards the bathrooms.

"hello beautiful."

donghyuck and chenle turned around, meeting eyes with a boy who seemed to be a few years older than them. he had a wide smirk plastered on his face as he checked donghyuck out.

"would you like something to drink?" he asked, standing up and approaching the two boys.

"no thanks, we're not interested." chenle replied.

"i'm not talking to you." the man spat before smiling at donghyuck again. "how about i take you with me to the city and we can spend some quality time. i have a huge motorbike."

"he's not interested." chenle repeated, taking donghyuck's wrist and pulling him towards the toilets.

the two males did their stuff before washing their hands.

then, they exited the bathroom, only to find the man that had been annoying them a few seconds before blocking the way out.

"are you sure...?" he asked with a smile.

"yes, we are." chenle rolled his eyes.

"i'm not talking to- "

"he's not interested either!" chenle yelled.

the man in front of him got angry, lifting his fist to punch chenle in the face.

thanks to his quick reflexes, the demigod pushed his hand away to doge it, hitting the boy in the stomach quickly.

chenle pushed him inside the bathroom as he clutched on his stomach, and hermes' son gave him a last strong kick in the liver, making the boy black out on the bathroom floor.

"why did you hit him?!" donghyuck whisper-shouted.

"he wouldn't leave us alone otherwise." chenle told.

"i could have had a drink with him if it was absolutely necessary." donghyuck explained.

"you'll be able to have a drink paid by him, but not with him." chenle shrugged, approaching the candy aisle and picking a few packs of sweets.

"what?" donghyuck raised a brow.

chenle placed his hand into his pocket before taking a wallet out as well as a watch. "people aren't very careful with their belongings when they are angry." he explained. "and he has quite a lot of money in there."

donghyuck laughed out loud at chenle's antics.

he was funny and cute.

"choose whatever you want, it's on him." chenle told.

"you're a gentleman." donghyuck told, picking a few bottles of soda.

"of course." chenle smiled.

"everybody should have someone like this in their lives to protect them." donghyuck voiced out, choosing something to eat.

chenle hummed, grabbing a bottle of water.

it was good to feel safe and protected when you had someone to do that for you.

this made him think of jisung immediately, but he pushed that thought away.

he was his best friend, nothing more.

and if donghyuck had said that chenle was a gentleman, it was that he was capable of protecting someone.

"i could be that person for you." chenle said with a blush, looking at donghyuck in the eye.

donghyuck examined chenle's whole persona, his vision getting blurry as little sparks appeared around chenle.

donghyuck could read two names: 'jisung', and 'donghyuck'.

he knew what that meant; chenle was confused.

but the pinkish colour of jisung's name that appeared in bold letter around his head didn't mistake him.

chenle had started developing feelings for jisung.

and he surely had a simple crush on him.

"i think you're someone who should find someone to protect you, chenle." donghyuck chuckled.

"i have no one to protect me. i'm fully able of protecting someone." chenle assured.

"i'm sure you already have someone in mind. and i'm sure this person is perfect to keep you safe."

Ω

after their little pause at the gas station, the seven boys got back inside the car and started driving again. this time, mark took the wheel, and renjun and chenle sat on the passenger seats next to him, leaving jisung, donghyuck, jeno and jaemin at the back of the car.

jisung was sleeping with his head resting against the window. next to him, donghyuck was eating a pack of gummy bears while admiring the people's feelings.

donghyuck looked at jisung's sleeping figure, smiling when he saw chenle's name written everywhere around his head, and floating in the air next to little hearts. he was happy to know that jisung did like chenle, and that chenle was also starting to develop feelings for him.

on his other side were jaemin and jeno.

both boys were fast asleep, jeno having his head on jaemin's shoulder as jaemin's head rested on jeno's while both snored in unison.

donghyuck concentrated on jaemin, red hearts appearing around him and spinning around jeno's body. effectively, jeno's name was also floating above jaemin's head, like a halo an angel would have.

jeno's feelings were almost the same. the red hearts around him did also spin around jaemin's body, but instead of having jaemin's name only floating above his head, he also had renjun's name. donghyuck judged that jeno might be confused with his feelings, but what troubled him was that both renjun's and jaemin's names were written in the same bold pink letters, as if he was sure of his feelings for both boys.

donghyuck then concentrated on renjun, smiling brightly when he saw both jeno's and jaemin's names appearing. they were both in bold pink letters, but jeno's name was considerably bigger, meaning that renjun still had to get closer to jaemin to develop more feelings for him.

finally, donghyuck looked at mark.

this boy was a mystery for him.

no name was swirling around his head. no hearts were dancing around him.

could that mean that mark didn't like anyone?

donghyuck was a bit sad not to see his name appearing on top of mark's head.

these past days, he had started to get closer to mark, and he found the boy really charming.

not only was he super handsome, but he was also completely boyfriend material, and he protected donghyuck so well... the tanned male absolutely loved being in his embrace.

did that mean that he liked mark? surely.

but let's be honest, he didn't mind it one bit. mark was someone perfect for him in his mind.

on the passenger seat, next to mark, chenle and renjun were both having a conversation in their native language to prevent the others from understanding what they were discussing about.

"i think i like donghyuck." chenle declared, making renjun's eyes widen.

"donghyuck?" he repeated. "i thought you liked jisung."

"why would you think that?!" chenle squeaked.

"i don't know... your siblings always tease you about it. and it's believable." renjun shrugged.

"well, i don't like him." chenle shook his head. "i like donghyuck."

"are you sure that you actually like him?" renjun raised a brow.

"yeah? i think..." chenle nodded. "why?"

"because i'm scared that you fell in love with his appearance rather than him, just like the other men..." renjun sighed as chenle rolled his eyes, claiming that renjun was spitting nonsense.

Ω

"we need to change cars." mark declared, parking the car they had on a parking lot.

"what? why?" jaemin asked, sitting up to look at their surroundings.

it felt like they had been travelling for days.

it was 20 hours actually.

they had rolled on the same endless roads for 20 hours, the drivers taking turns.

they were sure that no one would find them now.

the last person to drive was mark. he had been driving for more than four hours on the empty roads. but now, they had entered a city, a large one.

"our car as a us matriculation. it's too risky." mark explained, getting out of the car. "we need to find another one."

"why? where are we?" donghyuck asked, walking out of the car at the same time as the other boys.

"vancouver, canada..." renjun replied, looking at their surroundings.

"why the hell did you bring us there, mark?!" jeno raised a brow.

"i don't know. i was thinking that we could pass there, since we're on the run..." mark shrugged as he looked at his surroundings with amazement.

"might as well find an hotel while we're here." jisung stated. "i need a real bed to sleep on. i don't want to sleep in a car anymore."

"let's find another car, then. and we'll look for an hotel in the surroundings." renjun declared.

the seven boys looked around the parking lot for a car big enough to fit them all.

"how about this one?" jeno asked, pointing at a large car.

"good idea." chenle nodded before taking his necklace off and approaching the car.

mark stayed behind, his eyes scanning the car.

it looked old, but familiar.

but it was just a car, there were plenty of cars that looked the same as this one.

"hey! what are you doing!"

chenle turned around, backing off from the car when he saw a lady approaching them with her arms full of groceries.

the boy's face became paler as mark's eyes widened at the sight of this woman.

no wonder the car looked familiar...

"m-mom...?"