Chapter Text
“welcome to camp half-blood,” the boy next to sunwoo exhaled, his hands clasped together
the words rang in sunwoo’s head for a second as he tried to process what was going on. they stood in the middle of the camp ground surrounded by various cabins. it was a hot summer evening, the sun beating down on them with little mercy. in the distance campers in kayaks floated across the still, sparkling lake. some played volleyball or even tag, and to sunwoo all of it looked more than normal for a summer camp. campers clad in bright orange shirts were scattered throughout, some busy gawking at him. after he woke up, body aching and head spinning, he was thrown the same shirt in exchange for the mangled blue shirt he woke up in. if it weren’t for the minotaur horn in his hand, he would have fit right in.
the boy, who went by eric, was told to show him to his cabin. he had blond hair close to the color of linen and a mischievous glint in his eye. he talked to just about everyone as they walked through campgrounds, while sunwoo tried his best to ignore the silent judgement radiating off of everyone.
there were twelve cabins, all of them forming a u-shape. eric led him to a rather simple cabin that sat to the right of them all. it looked slightly worn and didn’t stand out too much amongst the others. at the top was a design of two snakes encircling a winged-staff; a caduceus.
“this,” eric paused to look at sunwoo, “is cabin eleven, hermes’ cabin. you’ll be staying here,”
sunwoo sat for a bit, observing the medium-sized cabin.
with a slight smile on his face, eric placed a hand on sunwoo’s shoulder.
“you’re gonna love it here,” eric’s eyes squinted in thought, “probably,”
sunwoo offered him a crooked smile before eric jogged towards the cabin’s door, his blond hair bouncing utop his head. when they finally opened the door, sunwoo was met with chaos. there were sleeping bags of various colors splayed across the floor accompanied by teenagers either playing games or fruitlessly arguing. a few triple bunk beds stood on the edges of the cabin. all of them looked up at sunwoo upon his arrival and he quickly felt uncomfortable under their stares.
“well, go in,” eric motioned in the doorway with hopeful eyes. sunwoo finally enters as eric breaks the silence brought upon the cabin.
“hey! this is the new camper we were talking about, sunwoo.” he announces, his arm wrapped around sunwoo’s shoulders. sunwoo hesitantly waves while mumbling a ‘hi’ and some campers greet him back. “treat him well, will you?”
a boy at the end of the cabin turned around as soon as the door opened. he had an aura of utmost confidence and pretty, tan skin. he smiled, showing perfectly straight teeth and dimples at either sides of his mouth. sunwoo couldn’t help but think that he was cute despite him being a near stranger. the boy walked over from his spot in the cabin to greet them.
“oh, i’ve been waiting for you,” he says. “i’m changmin, i’ll be your counselor,”
“sunwoo,” sunwoo says, finding his voice.
“regular or undetermined?” someone asked.
“undetermined,” eric answered. suddenly groans filled the cabin and sunwoo crossed his arms with a sigh.
“what do you mean by undetermined?”
“means you haven't been claimed by your godly parent. at least not yet,” changmin answers. to sunwoo, the gods were just legends, nothing more. it wasn’t too easy to digest that one of his parents could be a one.
“it’s nice to meet you,” changmin smiles again, almost blinding sunwoo.
“you too,”
“look, unfortunately i have to go, but i can show you around camp later, if you’d like?” changmin offers, rushing to put some shoes on.
“actually, i’m supposed to-”
“yeah, that’d be nice,” sunwoo cuts eric off. eric just blinks but doesn’t bother finishing his sentence.
“i'll be going then,” sunwoo doesn’t think to ask where he was off to as he left them with the campers. sunwoo sighs and looks to his side to see eric smirking at him.
“what?”
“nothing,” he says, an amused lilt showing itself in his voice
“he’s cute, right?”
sunwoo spots a seat in one of the corners of the cabin and promptly sits down.
“we are not having this conversation,” he says, avoiding eye contact. eric giggles at his embarrassment as he leans on the wall next to sunwoo.
“how is it so far?”
“i don’t know, unfamiliar,” sunwoo huffs, “this is crazy..” eric nods slowly.
“have you been claimed yet?”
“yep. athena’s son,” he raises the necklace hanging from his neck. on it is a small, silver owl charm, a known symbol for athena.
“don’t worry too much,” eric looks up at sunwoo, “you’ll find out soon enough,” sunwoo guesses that he’s alluding to being claimed. sunwoo gives him a hopeful smile before casting his gaze back on the ground. today is gonna be a long day, sunwoo thinks