Thyrsus of Dionysus

Chapter 5

"Your father was here."

"He left a present for you, but it's not the right time yet. It will be soon."

"The present will be waiting for you in that place we talked about."

"You will find the place for sure. Besides there is no use for your GPS in that case, you won't find it that way."

These and some other thoughts that replayed his talk with his mother roamed around in Hoseok's mind.

Well bullshit. Hoseok was trying so hard to stay positive and shit. But it's just not working as well as he wished. When his mom finished her little speech and didn't answer any of his questions, she rushed him to gather his essentials in a backpack and basically dragged him to the bus stop.

-I know you don't understand what's happening, but you will do great, I'm sure of it my little sunshine. - She then hugged him really tight, kissed his forehead and basically shoved him into the bus.

To say that the boy was lost, would be an understatement. He sat in his sit, threw a headphones on and looked outside the window the whole way from his home to Long Island (a/n: in the books that was the place where the Camp Half-Blood was).

The whole ride was supposed to be calm. But that's not the case for the new demigod. When he was couple miles away from his destination something just had to go wrong. Some creature appeared right there in the middle of the road, so the bus crashed into the nearest ditch. The creature disappeared, but the bus was already blowing up with flames.

"Well fuck"... of course shit was about to go down. A demigod, especially a realised one, would only attract trouble. His age was another story. His mother told him that demigods are usually told about their heritage when they very young, 12 at most, because the older they get, the more danger they're in. Hoseok was already 17, way older than ordinary demigod. If we even can say the word ordinary when we are speaking about demigods. Main reason still remains the same; he was not suppose to be alive, not for that long, not with his father being... well, his father.

So the rest of his way he had to go by feet. He remembered what his mother said to him. His intuition was the best compass, that he could get. So he was just walking beside the road, backpack on his shoulder, admiring strawberry fields on his right side.

As we was walking he got near some forest. So, he got two choices now; get into the woods or continue to travel beside the road. Sunny road vs dark, scary and mystery forest. But all this compass-intuition crap got to his head, so he decided to follow his gut. So after this quick break to think he resumed his walk. He went deep into the forest.

He was wandering further and further and as the sunlight became more limited, Hoseok became more aware of his surroundings. Also his fear level was at its peak right now. Then complete silence fell upon the forest. Hoseok froze in ready-to-run-for-his-life position and stood there for a minute. After couple of wild heart beats he was still alive, but when he heard a branch being snapped and felt something, or rather someone touching his back, he realised his first mistake.

He shouldn't have picked the forest.

***

Namjoon was pissed. No, he was furious. His mother actually didn't tell him anything useful. His father was a Greek god? Yeah, the more he was thinking about it, the more he doubted it. It wasn't possible. It didn't suppose to be possible at least. And there he was, running towards the train at the platform, because his mother was very persistent, that he should leave today, right now and this instant. He barely made it, but he didn't miss the train.

A train, a bus and a taxi later he still wasn't even near, as he was convinced. As for now, he was very tired and probably very lost in the forest, that his mother told him about.

"Just find the forest Namjoon and the rest is in Fates' hands."

Well, not to rain on somebody's parade, but he found the forest. And that's about it. He was walking probably in circles, he was so tired. He didn't even noticed that creepy silence, that suddenly surrounded his figure and the whole forest to be precise. And right then, when he should be focused and alerted (as another boy in the same forest was), he tripped on some rocks, stumbled and broke couple of branches underneath his legs. When he was still walking backwards he suddenly came to a stop, as he stopped on something, or rather someone, when his back hit the back of the other person.

That was the moment of silence, when everything in the forest went quiet, even animals were holding their breath. Two boys, standing back to back, frozen at the spot. But that was just a fraction of a millisecond. Right after it ended, both boys jumped into the air, Hoseok screeching at some dangerous frequency. Shriek was very loud and ear-piercing. It got to the other side of the forest, attracting attention from some creatures, that... let's just say, that boys didn't want to meet them now, or more preferably to not meet them ever.

Hoseok stopped screaming eventually. When Namjoon jumped on him, tackled him to the ground and covered his mouth with his palm. Hoseok, however, wasn't having it, so he punched Namjoon in the gut, throw him off of himself and went into defencing position, eyeing the newcomer.

-Who the fuck are you? And what are you doing here? - you could say that Hoseok was at least suspicious. But he couldn't bring himself to be more mean or to attack the other boy, just because he looked like a cute and very lost koala bear.

-Dude, you just punched me?! - Namjoon was so surprised, that the statement came out more like a question. He was holding his hand on his stomach and glaring at Hoseok. Or at least he tried to glare. He was looking more like a boy, who just lost his favourite toy.

-I mean, you tackled me first, soooo... why did you do it anyway? - Hoseok was lost and so was Namjoon.

-You know, I just kinda naturally assumed you're like me and when you started screaming it scared me, that something might hear you. Something that we might met already and we don't need the reunion so soon. - Namjoon was challenging his inner nerd, as he scanned Hoseok's body; noticing the scratches, wounds and even defensive and really tensed posture.

-What do you mean like you? I don't know you.

-I don't know you either, but I have eyes so I'm using them. - the cute koala was now one deadly bear, as he was analysing Hoseok. That pushed Hoseok to take a better look at Namjoon, so he noticed similarities in their appearance.

-Okay, so let's say, that we are the same. How do I know we're thinking about the same thing? - that was some tough cookie; how do they gonna find it out without revealing the fact, that they're demigods? As far as they knew, the other boy still could be some weird creature, only waiting to attack.

-I came here, because my mother told me so. She said that I'm supposed to find something in this woods.

-And that you will find it only when you use your intuition. No map, no gps, nothing. - Hoseok added the rest himself. He now knew, that he could trust this boy, because he watched Namjoon visibly relax and taking long breath in to compose himself.

Now two reassured boys just felt tiredness taking over them. Hoseok looked around them and looked over to Namjoon.

-So, maybe we should make some camp and spend the night here...? - Hoseok now realised that the newcomer didn't introduced himself.

-Namjoon, my name is Namjoon.

-Hoseok. Nice to meet another demigod as clueless as myself.

Both boys shook hands as they were wondering how strange the word demigod sounded out loud with another person around.

-And Hoseok I agree, we should rest, maybe we will have more luck tomorrow, when we get some sleep.

As the boys prepared everything they bonded really well, given the circumstances. They both didn't know their fathers, or the place they were looking for. Namjoon was only one year older and a total nerd, basically total opposites, because Hoseok was everything but clumsy and he was terrible with books. And there they were, two boys that didn't know each other before, but now suddenly in the same time and place, with similar bruises covering their arms, just as tired as they looked, so when the campfire that they managed to start was strong enough, they just fell asleep on the spot, curled into small balls near the nice heat.