"are you ready?" jeno asked, truing around to face his friends.

they had gone out of the plane and had been taken at the top of mount olympus, where the gods were supposed to be. they were now standing in front of the huge and heavy doors leading to the large room in which the twelve olympians were.

"let's go." renjun declared, and so, jeno pushed the doors open, allowing the ten boys to enter the giant room.

"welcome here boys!" a voice said as the demigods all took slow steps towards the twelve gods seated in beautiful thrones – there was also a 13th god in the room, seated on a plastic garden chair. "we all need to have a talk."

the ten demigods bowed low as the faced the twelve olympian gods – plus hades.

they felt minuscule standing in this huge room, so close to the most powerful beings of the universe, and at the same time, the people that had given birth to them.

"boys, we need to thank you for what you have done. it was very brave of you to defend your own blood and risking your life. we are all so proud of you and what you did." the god standing in the centre spoke. jeno recognized his father immediately. "we wanted to congratulate you."

"thank you, your majesty." renjun took the initiative to speak and bow again.

"thank you." all the other demigods imitated the wise one.

"your bravery and devotion will always be recognized by us." zeus continued. "and jeno..."

the so-called male stood up straight, looking at his father in the eye.

he felt nervous, standing in front of him. it was as if he had become the centre of the attention.

"i am proud of you, son." zeus said with a smile. "you proved me that you were worth being my son. i know i may not have been there for you as much as you wanted me to be, but know that i love you, and that i am very proud of what you managed to become. i don't regret asking you to take care of donghyuck, because you did it perfectly."

jeno gulped, smiling at his father. "t-thank you, dad." he told. "i love you too."

zeus flashed a smile to his son as well before facing the other gods. "don't hesitate if you guys have some things to tell your children."

hermes was the first one to speak.

"you did wonderful chenle. congratulations son, i'm proud of you." he stated. "i was sure you would be able to communicate anywhere. and also steal as well as i do."

"thanks dad." chenle smiled.

"yangyang." arthemis spoke. "you were amazing out there. you proved me you could be one with nature. i never doubted your abilities, and i was right to do so. congratulations, son."

yangyang's cheeks coloured crimson at his mother's words. "thank you, mom." he said, making her smile and nod her head.

"same for you, xiaojun." hephaestus spoke next. "i'm proud of you. and your mother would be too. don't hesitate to come at my forge one day. i'd love to spend some time in your company."

"i will, dad." xiaojun nodded proudly.

"jisung, i need to thank you with all my heart." poseidon continued. "not only did you keep your friends safe and helped them during your journey, but you also saved your mother's life. i am very thankful of you for taking care of her, and preventing the others to hurt her. we are proud of you jisung."

jisung's heart clenched at the mention of his mother. he had gone to see him before taking the plane, and she was still weak because of everything she had gone through. but she was safe now.

chenle felt jisung's mood dropping, so he slowly slipped his hand into his boyfriend's one to reassure him and lift his mood a bit.

"thank you, dad." jisung stated. "i love you both."

"we do too, son." poseidon assured, speaking for his lover and himself.

the next one to speak was ares. "well done, jaemin. you did well. i'm proud." he said simply, his face scowling.

"thanks." jaemin replied simply. not that he didn't love him, it's just that a conversation between two moody and short-tempered persons tended to be full of curse words and screams if it lasted too long. so, when congratulating his progenitures, ares always used short and simple sentences. and his children knew that hearing such sentences meant he was making an effort in staying polite and seem grateful to them.

"now, renjun, you surprised me a lot." athena said next, making renjun blush. "i knew you had facilities, but i never imagined you could reason so well, and understand your intuitions this much. watching you from up there, i realised how much you looked like me in my fights. i'm very proud of you, renjun."

"thank you, mom." renjun smiled sheepishly.

"no problem, son. and i saw you even got yourself two boyfriends... how cute." she added, her eyes switching between jeno and jaemin who were both standing behind renjun. "i hope they're taking good care of you."

"they are. i love them." renjun nodded as he let jeno and jaemin wrap their arms around his slip body.

"very good." athena chuckled.

"wait, jeno?!" zeus exclaimed. "you have two boyfriends?!"

"my son is so lustful he gets twice more dick..." ares told, eying his son.

"come on, ares!" demeter groaned. "keep this meeting children-friendly."

"do you know about freedom of speech, farmer?" ares tackled back immediately.

"shouldn't you be congratulating your son, rather than insulting another olympian?" poseidon rolled his eyes at their childishness.

"fishtail is right, for once." ares nodded. "well done, son. and good luck with walking after a night with them. i assume zeus' son has you under his control..."

"yeah." jaemin replied bluntly, making all of the others choke on air as him and ares smirked at each other.

"damn, poor renjun, then. athena, your son is getting laid by two angry demigods. that must be hard."ares continued, making athena facepalm.

"children-friendly!" demeter yelled again.

"can i have a word with my sons now?" hades interrupted their conversation.

"please do." zeus nodded.

hades stood up, placing his hands on his hips as he stared at his two sons.

"i have lots of things to say." he declared. "good, and bad things as well. and i don't know where to start."

hendery rolled his eyes at his father's words. he knew how exigent he was, and he also knew that he didn't really approve what hendery was doing of his life. he favoured mark, because he truly acted like a descendant of hades – well, at the beginning.

"as my sons, you are supposed to be on my side, and not to pair with the gods who rejected me and left me apart." hades growled.

"do you feel like you are apart now?" zeus asked. "you were invited to our meeting when you're not even part of the olympians."

"i am seated on a fucking plastic garden chair when you all have golden thrones!" hades yelled, pointing at the chair he was previously sitting on. "but this is not the matter." he continued speaking to his sons. "you guys should defend my cause, not act like actual softies who pair with the gods. you disappointed me. mostly you, hendery. at least, mark tried avenging me. even if he switched lane in the end, which i am very disappointed in, at least, he fought for me!"

an awkward silence took place in the room after hades' speech.

none of the gods dared to speak after what hades had said, neither did the demigods.

hendery had his head hanging low, his heart hurting because of all the profanities his own father had spilled.

however, mark was still standing straight, looking at him father unbothered.

"are you done?" he asked arrogantly, surprising everybody around the room.

"i have so much more to say but- "

"now is my time to speak." mark cut the god of the underworld as he took a step forward. "i wanted to make you proud at first, and i wanted you to know that you could count on me to avenge you. this was why i paired with the titans at first. in order to defeat the gods, and let you rule the world at your manner. but i was naively doing that, never questioning why i was the only one thinking that way when all the others agreed that the olympians should remain on top of the world. hendery tried opening my eyes a lot, but i never listened to him. i was too focused on avenging you for that. mom tried too. and thanks to her, i started to realise how bad you were, and how toxic you were too. the one who made me change my mind fully was donghyuck. after starting to get to know him, i realised that i would never become like you, because i wasn't a god like you are. i am a demigod, which means that i am half-human. i cannot become your evil persona, because as much as i hold a part of you in me, i hold a part of mom, and this human part of me gained too much importance for me. i am not a god, having sex with dozens of ladies around the world to procreate. i am a demigod, searching for the love of my life. i am not a god, able to rule the world in a snap of fingers. i am a demigod, searching for a place that fits me in the society. and i found that place. as much as i imagined this place was next to you, it is not. my place is down there, on earth, with my friends and my boyfriend. i don't care about what you think of me now. i want them to think good of me, because they are the important persons in my life. you are not anymore. so, you have no right to scold hendery for his humanity, because this is in our nature. we're half-humans, and as much as it hurts you, we will never become like you. we're with the gods. i though you had understood that."

a long and weird silence followed this monologue.

the demigods' mouths were hanging open, not expecting for mark to be this direct and violent while speaking to the god that had brought him to life.

the gods weren't in a better state, as they all worriedly looked at hades who seemed to be fuming in anger.

"y-you cannot disrespect me like that, son!" hades growled through clenched teeth.

"well, i just did." mark shrugged. "and this should be enough for you to understand that the problem here is you, and not us."

just like mark's and hendery's auras, a thick black smoke surrounded hades' body as his face became redder with each second passing.

however, instead of screaming insults at his son, hades swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "i guess i may leave this meeting then." he barked. "see you in hell." he added before getting swallowed by the ground and disappearing.

"i... wasn't expecting this to happen..." zeus said, coughing.

"yeah, that's the least you could say." athena nodded.

"so... maybe we could continue? if aphrodite or apollo want to add something?" zeus stated, looking at the two gods who hadn't congratulated their son.

donghyuck faced the two gods, his heart doing summersaults in his chest at their sight.

here they were, his parents.

it was his first time seeing them, and the sensation was quite overwhelming.

his mother was a beautiful lady, wearing a nice red dress that hugger her curves nicely. her face was highlighted by a gorgeously made make up, and her hair were tied perfectly, making donghyuck understand why people said she was the most beautiful women existing.

his father was incredible as well. his tanned skin glowed despite them being inside a room, and donghyuck could imagine how beautiful it would look under the midday sun.

"donghyuck, baby..." aphrodite spoke, smiling at her son. "you are so beautiful..."

"m-mom..." donghyuck let out, the word feeling so unfamiliar on his tongue. "d-dad..."

"yes, son. it's us." apollo nodded, showing his white teeth.

"we are so proud of you, baby. you're so strong..." aphrodite continued.

"we're sorry for not being there for you. we were forbidden to... but we never stopped protecting you, and making sure you were okay." apollo added.

"we are very thankful that you are okay, now. you are a precious boy... you didn't deserve to live all of those horrible things. but now, everything will be better for you, baby. don't doubt it." donghyuck's mother spoke gently, her tone making donghyuck somehow calm and happy.

"we will be there for you donghyuck. don't hesitate to call for us whenever you need anything. we know how hard those first 19 years have been for you, and we want the rest of your life to be the most perfect possible." apollo finished.

by then, tears were rolling down donghyuck cheeks as he sniffled.

he was completely overwhelmed by all of this, but at the same time, he was so relieved and happy that everything had come to an end and that he would be able to live normally.

mark noticed donghyuck's state, and he didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around the boy's waist as donghyuck cried in the crook of his neck.

"t-thank y-you..." donghyuck spoke to his parents.

"aw... baby... come and hug us..." aphrodite spoke, standing up from her throne.

donghyuck left mark's side, running towards both of his parents and letting them hug him tight. it felt good to finally be with your family, after 19 years of believing you had no one.

"everything will be alright, son." apollo whispered in his ear.

"we're here for you, baby." aphrodite added.

the family hugged for a few more minutes, donghyuck enjoying this bonding time more than anything. they eventually let go, and donghyuck got back to mark's side, the older not hesitating to intertwine his and donghyuck's hands.

"well, if everything has been said, i think we can close this meeting." zeus announced, standing up from his throne and looking around the room.

"wait!" donghyuck's voice caught the most important god's attention. "i have a last question."

"sure, ask." zeus smiled.

"what makes me different, and so special to others?" donghyuck asked the question he had never had an answer to despite the fact everybody asked him.

"have you not noticed?" zeus raised a brow.

donghyuck shook his head as no.

"well, you were not gifted with the reflexes demigods have when one of their parents is mortal. you didn't know how to fight, even if your life was threatened, while other demigods can fight without learning because it's in their genes. however, you have more of a general power, that other demigods don't have. we didn't know what it was at first, but now we understood. you spread peace and harmony. you manage to make the world revolve around you, as if you were the sun, and then, you create some kind of harmony, in which all people feel is love. this explains how you made mark change his mind, and why you are surrounded with all those couples." zeus explained.

donghyuck and the other demigods hummed as everything made sense in their minds.

it explained so much things...

they all imagined that donghyuck had some special power that he could activate to defeat the titans, but in fact, it was just him.

mark had been right when he had answered hyojin that what made donghyuck special was just himself...

Ω

"i'm so tired... i'm going to pass out..." chenle whined as they walked across the forest.

"we're almost there, love." jisung reassured him, pulling his boyfriend by the hand.

they had taken the plane from the mount olympus in greece to south korea, where they would be able to go back to the half-blood camp.

they were all drenched in energy, and looking forwards to sleeping in a comfortable bed.

but the walk in the forest to reach the camp was long, way too long in their opinion.

"can you believe last time we walked there we were fighting?" renjun declared, as jaemin was carrying him on his back.

"you were?" jeno raised a brow.

"yeah. he was jealous i could have a friendly conversation with you while all we did was fight." renjun chuckled.

"stop mocking me!" jaemin whined, pinching renjun's thighs and making him squirm on jaemin's back.

"come on, babes, calm down." jeno laughed. "no need to be jealous now. you both have me."

"yeah. honestly the best thing that happened to me." jaemin nodded, readjusting renjun on his back.

"yeah, same." renjun confirmed, leaning his chin on jaemin's shoulder. "i love you."

"i love you too." jaemin replied.

"and so do i." jeno finished.

behind them, mark and donghyuck were walking hand in hand in a peaceful silence.

silence that donghyuck broke after a while.

"why did you call me your boyfriend in front of your father?" he asked curiously. mark had never asked him to be his boyfriend, and yet he had introduced donghyuck as his boyfriend a while ago. not that donghyuck minded, but the question made mark tense anyway.

"w-well... i thought... you know? since we kissed, and sealed a promise... i was thinking that maybe..." mark stuttered awfully, making donghyuck laugh. "what?"

"i don't mind becoming your boyfriend. i'd love to actually." donghyuck said with a blush.

"really?!" mark gasped.

"yeah, now ask me out!" donghyuck whined.

mark stopped abruptly, making donghyuck turn around to look at him as mark knelt on the floor, taking donghyuck's hand in his.

"lee donghyuck, son of aphrodite and apollo, the most beautiful being of the world, and the best boy ever, would you make me the happiest bad boy here and accept my feelings?" mark asked with a beaming smile.

donghyuck chuckled, leaning forwards to drop a peck on mark's lips. "yes, i will." he told before pulling mark up and making them walk again. "but you could simply have asked me 'be my boyfriend?', you know? i would have said yes as well." he added.

the two boys stopped walking as chenle, jisung, jaemin, jeno and renjun had stopped as well.

"what is it, guys?" donghyuck asked, stepping beside chenle.

"we were waiting for you." he explained.

"what for?" mark raised a brow.

"to go back home." renjun spoke as the seven boys' heads turned to look at the wooden arch on which the words 'half-blood camp' were written in greek letters.

here they were, back home, after a long and dangerous trip, and after an adventure that had made them close. something none of them would ever forget, for sure.