donghyuck looked at the boy whose black aura was more than intimidating. if he remembered well, it was one of hades' sons, mark.

the dog – mavros – ran to the mark guy and barked happily before running back to donghyuck and jumping around him, turning around his legs.

mark approached the beautiful boy.

"i-i'm sorry. i d-didn't know it was you dog." donghyuck let out shakily.

"it's okay." the other boy replied, eying his dog. "i hope he didn't bother."

"oh, no. not at all!" donghyuck said quickly. "he was very kind and cuddly."

the boy, whose aura was scaring donghyuck, raised a brow. "mavros usually hates people." he said.

"huh... well, i guess i'm special then?" donghyuck giggled.

"you're the forbidden child. i'm mark. hades' son." he told.

"huh... you can call me donghyuck. it's a bit better than 'forbidden child'." donghyuck chuckled.

mark didn't respond. he kept his cold face on as he studied the boy carefully.

he was still wearing his black ripped jeans and his yellow cropped sweatshirt which revealed the smooth skin of his tummy. and his face had to be the 8th wonder of the world.

he had honey, curly hair, falling beautifully on his forehead and almost hiding his chocolate eyes. his thin lips were curved into a smile, allowing mark to see his bunny teeth. and his tan skin was so smooth, dotted with many moles which made him look even more ethereal.

the boy was cut in his study of aprhodite's son by his dog which had started barking and growling.

mark looked aside to find zeus' son approaching them.

"jeno!" donghyuck exclaimed, waving his hands in the air.

jeno stopped moving when the back dog barked loudly at him.

"can't you call your thing back?" jeno asked mark not so politely.

"mavros." mark called. "hush and come here."

the creature did as it was told, sitting next to its owner's leg.

"what are you doing here?" jeno asked, standing in front of donghyuck in a protective manner.

"i had lost my dog." mark replied coldly.

"you found it now. so, you can leave."

"jeno..." donghyuck tugged the boy's sleeve.

"no, it's okay." mark said. "i'll leave."

jeno nodded, signalling hades' son to go away.

"goodbye donghyuck. see you soon." mark said, smirking at the beautiful boy before disappearing in the woods.

jeno looked at his flustered best friend.

"what were you doing with him?" he asked.

"he was looking for mavros. and mavros had come to me." donghyuck explained.

"i told you to be careful with hades' sons." jeno said.

"i know. nothing happened." donghuck reassured him.

"i'm worried for you, donghyuck."

donghyuck smiled at his best friend, pulling him into a hug.

"thank you jeno. i don't know what i would be without you."

Ω

the afternoon passed quicker than expected for donghyuck.

jeno and him continued training on attacks and defence techniques using swords so that donghyuck could know the bases. not being able to fight in such a world was a real disadvantage and very badly seen.

donghyuck was getting a bit better.

he was a bit slow and didn't have much reflex, but everything was new for him...

jeno could see donghyuck didn't want to learn how to fight, and jeno agreed on the fact he wasn't made to fight, but he absolutely needed to.

in this world, it was either fighting, either dying.

"jeno." donghyuck whispered, catching the attention of zeus' son.

"yeah?"

"they're eying me strangely..." he said low, with a head motion towards a table where four girls had their eyes focused on him.

jeno turned around, looking at the girls before shrugging.

"they're hera's daughters. they look at every man like that."

"why?" donghyuck asked, trying not to get distracted by them.

"because hera is my father's wife, and they're unhappy he had many adventures with other goddesses and nymphs." jeno replied, munching on his food.

"what?! he did it with other goddesses?!"

"yes, and he had children..." jeno rolled his eyes. "donghyuck, seriously, i'm going to need to teach you the basis of mythology."

"but... if he did it with other goddesses, this means that there are other people who were born from the union of two gods, just like me!" he exclaimed in realisation. "where are they? are they in danger too?"

jeno sighed in despair.

"donghyuck. zeus and dione had aphrodite. your mother. and zeus and a mortal named leto had your father. and both your parents are olympians, which means they are very powerful. and for you, we don't really know your... huh... you know? you could be a god, but you have the properties of both your parents, just like another demigod would. so... yeah."

donghyuck stayed silent for a few seconds, processing everything that was told.

"wait! you're telling me that my grandpa is your father?! does that make you my uncle?" donghyuck asked with a frown.

"seriously?" jeno raised a brow. "it's the only thing you got from what i told you?"

"huh... admit that what i pointed out is weird."

"we don't have family relationships in mythology other than brotherhood. otherwise, everybody would be cousin or uncle and then you'll realise that your grandfather had your mother with your aunt and everything would get weirder. so, no. no familial relationship."

donghyuck furrowed his brows, trying to understand what jeno wanted to tell, but he abandoned after a few seconds.

"anyway, so nobody knows what- "

"hello!!! can we sit here?"

donghyuck and jeno turned their heads towards chenle, hermes' son, who was standing beside jisung.

"n- "

"chenle!" donghyuck cut jeno. "of course, come here!"

chenle smiled, sitting next to donghyuck as jisung sat next to jeno.

"you know each other?" jeno asked, glaring at chenle who was all happy.

"yes! he helped me getting to the grand chalet the day you had abandoned me." donghyuck explained, making jeno scoff.

"well, hello." jeno said with a nod once they had sat.

"oh, and this is jisung, my best friend!" he said, pointing at the boy that was next to jeno. "jisung, this is donghyuck, i told you about him."

jisung smiled at the beautiful boy, donghyuck giving him a shy smile back.

"and this is jeno. he's donghyuck's bodyguard." chenle added.

"huh, i'm zeus' son, thank you." jeno spoke, correcting the bubbly boy immediately.

"yeah, yeah, whatever." chenle shrugged. "anyway, donghyuck! how have you been here?!"

donghyuck smiled happily and told about himself to his newest friend.

it felt good. chenle seemed like a bubbly and friendly person.

and he was amazed by anything donghyuck told, it was cute.

donghyuck almost forgot he was surrounded by a completely unfamiliar world.

"so... zeus?" jisung asked jeno awkwardly, ignoring the two other boys' talking.

"yeah. poseidon?"

jisung nodded, understanding that he needed to find something else to say before everything got very awkward.

"huh... where'd you find him?" he asked with a head motion towards a laughing donghyuck.

jeno looked at his best friend before smiling. "i was assigned as his protector while he was out there." he explained.

"oh, okay." he nodded. "is it true that he knew nothing?"

"yeah. i had to keep that secret for years. that was horrible. and seeing him being courted by dozens of people was heart-breaking..."

jisung furrowed his brows. "oh, you two... i mean... you are...?"

"together?" jeno asked. "no, he's my best friend. we may seem like we're dating, but actually he's just very touchy and i was the only person close to him."

"oh, my bad." jisung apologised.

"it's nothing."

jisung waited a few seconds before asking the question that had been trotting on his mind since forever.

"and... has he got something special?" he asked unsure.

jeno sighed, glancing at his best friend before looking back at jisung.

"i didn't find anything for the moment. i don't even know about his powers. the only particular thing is that he doesn't know how to fight... but don't let that spread out."