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“Woah woah woah, stop right there. Yesterday you told me I’m the son of mcfreaking Poseidon and today you just appear out of shadows, and you’re telling me you’re the son of Hades. Like all powerful ruler of the underworld?” It’s easy to say Lance is in shock, waving his arms around all over the place and raising his voice more as he speaks. It’s to be expected though, he just found out that the Greek gods actually exist and well, he’s the son of one of the most powerful. Surprise!
“Yep, Hades is my father and Poseidon is yours. Looks like you aren’t as dumb as you appear right now, so how about we get this whole tour thing over so we can both go back to what we really want to be doing.” Keith, that was his name. Well Keith was being a dick, a really insensitive one at that.
“Okay you’re going to have to give me a minute here. Telling me that I’m the son of a god and sending me to a cabin for the night is one thing, but some dude literally appearing out of shadows into my room is a completely different thing. A completely different thing that cannot be explained by science and will take me a little while to process.” Lance is holding his chest like he thinks it’ll fend off the mini heart attack he’s experiencing.
Keith sighs and responds, “Look I know what it’s like. Most people that come in here know at a younger age about all this, but somehow you were able to stay alive this long. Especially being that you’re the son of one of the big three, but that doesn’t change what you are. You have to accept it like the rest of us and continue with your new life, you more so than others. You’re being hunted which means we have to train you and maybe do a little praying that you don’t get all of our asses killed.”
Lance still looks dazed but nods his head when Keith is done, accepting what he said even though he still hasn’t properly processed this all.
“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Keith claps his hands and walks towards the door to head outside.
“Oh now you decide to use the door,” Lance mumbles under his breath.
Today is going to be a long day.
~
The camp is beautiful; there’s so many buildings with different styles for each, and different spaces for every activity. It takes Lance and Keith most of the morning just to tour part of it and they spend the beginning of the afternoon continuing after they eat lunch.
After the tour they find a nice tree to sit under and rest; Lance assumed Keith would shy away from the sun, especially being that he’s a child of the underworld, but he seems quite content sitting here. Kind of like a cat actually, leaning against the tree with his long legs crossed casually and his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes are closed and his head is tilted towards the sun, he really seems to be enjoying it.
“So now that you’ve shown me all this, what’s the plan for tonight?” Lance decides to break the silence a little, well he tries.
Keith smiles wickedly before replying, “capture the flag.”
“Wait you mean like the game in Call of Duty? Isn’t that a little dangerous for a bunch of kids to be playing?” Lance’s voice turns a bit squeaky as his skepticism starts to show.
“Hmmm it’s similar actually, but no guns. We use swords mostly, some use arrows, spears, pretty much any old school weapon you could think of actually. I think someone even has a flail? That spiky ball on a chain, yeah it’s gnarly to get hit with. Would not recommend.” Keith says all of this like it’s normal and to be honest it scares Lance more than a little.
“So you mean…..these kids….actually go after each other with the intent to kill? And with real weapons?” Lance seems to have a habit of holding his chest during anxious moments, like he’s trying to physically keep his heart from escaping.
“Yeah? How else is capture the flag played?” Really the look on Keith’s face is comical, but it doesn’t make Lance feel any better.
“Uh with a flag and a few people with good intentions? At least not people trying to legitimately kill you.” Lance isn’t quite as worried as before but he’s still talking in what Keith is naming his signature Squeaky Voice.
“Did you forget that all of us are children of the gods? Do you really think that the gods would play capture the flag like ‘oops sorry I knocked you down, let me help you up’? Hell no, if it were possible they would have killed each other centuries ago. We play the way our blood compels us, and that’s with everything we got. We do have rules but if you go in there tonight thinking that it’s gonna be some kiddy game then you will get hurt.” Keith got more and more serious the longer they talked, eventually realizing that Lance thought it was a joke at first.
“So the rules of the game are the same, but you guys go after each other with weapons and intent to kill. Got it” Lance sounded nervous again and Keith could see it on his face.
“Listen, we don’t go after each other trying to kill. We go with the intent to win the game and bring victory to our team. Yes, we use real weapons and yes people get hurt but It’s never been something that can’t be healed with a little ambrosia and time with healers.” Keith tried to put as much sincerity in the statement as he could, but really that isn’t his thing. Trying to comfort people isn’t typically something the son of Hades is expected to do.
Lance sighs, “Okay that sounds a little better, but I’ve never fought a day in my life how am I supposed to even have a chance out there?”
“Oh you’ll see,” and Keith’s wicked grin appears again.
~
“THIS IS NOT WHAT TRAINING IS” Lance is screeching while trying to dodge Keith with everything he’s got. Somehow he’s only obtained a few small scratches.
“What do you mean, this is exactly how to train,” Keith’s wicked grin evolved into a smirk that won’t leave.
“No, training is showing someone how to do something and then letting them try it out. Training is not giving someone a weapon they’ve never held and then charging at them like they should know how to use it.” Somehow Lance gets all those words out while still in the process of dodging whatever he can.
“You think too much. Your body is literally hard wired for this, and if you would just let your body do what it needs to instead of fighting every instinct you have, then we would actually be getting somewhere with this.” Keith stops and leans on his sword, “As a demigod it’s in your blood to fight. Especially being a son of one of the big three, your fighting instincts will be more like mine than anyone else here. I came here not knowing a damn thing about fighting and look where I am now. Don’t think; move.”
With that they get back to training, but Lance still isn’t getting it. He’s still holding back and running instead of facing Keith and it’s really starting to get annoying, so Keith amps it up a bit. He stops holding back and goes at Lance with everything he has, much like the people will during capture the flag.
Lance finally lets go, finally stops thinking so much. He doesn’t have time to think, doesn’t have time to plan it out and he finally starts getting into it. His body starts moving on its own, his legs making more confident steps than ever in his life. His breaths go from uneven and sporadic to even and controlled, his arms somehow pick up an almost perfect form.
Keith smiles, a blinding smile, and they continue. It’s honestly the most difficult training session that Keith has participated in and he loves every minute of it, he finally has a challenge.
They’re both getting tired and it shows, sweat making their shirts stick to them and their hair matted to their foreheads. Their movements slow and their blows become weaker, and then Lance finally gets the better of Keith.
They end up on the ground. Keith with his back against the grass, and Lance hovering above him, pinning Keith’s arms.
“Looks like the student passed up the teacher,” and Lance smiles. A smile that captures Keith’s eyes, a smile that lights up all of Lance’s face, a smile that weakens Keith’s barriers.
When Keith finds the ability to remove his eyes from Lance, he draws one leg up from between Lance’s and uses that to flip them.
“Oh really now? If I remember correctly you’re the one that spent the first half of training running away,” Keith smirks and tightens his grip on Lance’s arms.
Lance just groans and plops the back of his head on the ground, “you know what I’m not even gonna argue, you win.”
“Wanna repeat that? I’ve known you for less than a day and yet I know that admitting defeat isn’t something you would do.”
Lance doesn’t reply but his face turns red enough for Keith to finally realize what the problem is and he lets Lance go. When Keith is up he offers a hand to Lance and drags the unwilling lump up off the ground.
“Alright, I’ve given you enough shit for now. We have a few hours till capture the flag starts, go ahead and take that time to rest. You’ll definitely need it.” With that Keith smiles and turns to go towards his own cabin, not turning back at all along the way.
~
Night time came faster than Lance would have liked and there was still no way for him to get out of capture the flag. He grumbled the whole way but slowly made it to the meeting point where everyone had already stuck him on Keith’s team so that ‘Keith could babysit him’ wow very emasculating.
There was never a point in Lance’s life where he felt shy until right now, with hundreds of people watching him go stand next to the person responsible for watching him.
“Alright so everyone here should know the rules by now, and I told this one the most important ones today during training. As always, here’s your reminders: No fatal wounds, try to go for the legs, obviously the object is to capture the flag of the opposing team, no hiding your team’s flag outside of the boundaries, and no going in there without proper equipment. Now if you need anything grab it now because we start in 5 minutes.” With that Keith jumps down from the table he was standing on and he walks over to Lance, “any questions?”
“Nope I think I got it, just gotta try not to get killed. Easy enough.” Lance looks nervous again and the Squeaky Voice is back.
“Look you have good instincts, you showed that today in training. All you have to do is make that huge head of yours stop thinking so damn much and let your body move. If you come in contact with anyone then just do what you did in training and you’ll be fine.” Here he is again, son of Hades, comforting someone. Really Keith should get an award.
Lance deflates a little and replies with a simple okay. They head off to the building close by to get Lance some armor and they head back to the meeting place to start the game.
“Times up, you should all know your teams so please refrain from friendly fire. With that I’ll hand this over to Coran to handle the countdown.” Keith takes position in the lead of his group with Lance behind them.
As soon as the gun is shot everyone is off, Keith has the flag and Lance has instructions to cover him while they look for a place to hide it. They took off faster than anyone so no one has caught up yet and they make it safely to the place Keith deems good enough to hide the flag.
“Alright, how good are you at climbing trees?” Keith asks with a completely straight face and the most deadpan look possible.
“Ahhh it’s not that hard? Why?” The Squeaky Voice returns and Keith just smirks at Lance.
“Because that’s where this flag is going and you’re going to be the one doing the climbing.”
“WHAT? You want me to climb this tree where I can be shot down by anyone carrying a bow and arrow? Why don’t you do your weird shadow voodoo and transport yourself up there instead of voluntelling me.” Lance has adopted what he thinks is a defensive stance, but really it’s not working on Keith.
“1- That’s why I’m staying down here, to protect your ass. 2- It’s not voodoo and shadows don’t work that easily. 3- I’m voluntelling you because I’m your leader and it’s your job to listen to me.” Keith holds up a finger for each reason he spouts off. “Get your ass up there before people find us and it’s all for nothing”
“Fine,” Lance grumbles the whole way up but manages to climb the huge tree, somehow Keith picked the tallest one in the area and Lance thinks it was on purpose.
By the grace of the gods, Lance makes it down safely and no one has showed up to try to kill them. Truly a miracle.
From then on there’s no talking, only hand signs that Lance can barely understand or remember to watch for. Eventually they get settled in; both of them guarding the base of the tree from a distance. A few people walk past where Keith and Lance are hidden, but as long as they didn’t try to climb the tree Keith and Lance let them pass by. They weren’t even looking up; it was like they expected the flag to hit them in the face.
After a while of hiding and quite a few leg cramps, a few people start running up like they know exactly where the flag is. That’s when Keith gives the signal to attack.
Lance tries his hardest to listen to what Keith said, to let his body move without thinking too much. In the beginning it doesn’t work, having someone come at you like they’re going to kill you tends to cloud your judgement. All the sudden it all stops though, he barely registers it but Lance ends up with a pretty large gash on his thigh and then all the sudden everything becomes clear. It’s odd but somehow the injury grounded him.
Lance’s body starts moving on its own again and he lets it. Before he knows it he’s taken down several people and looks up to see Keith leaning against the tree like he’s bored.
“You really could have helped,” Lance grumbles.
“Nah, looked like you had it under control.” Keith smirks and continues to lounge against the tree.
The adrenaline passes and then Lance remembers the gash on his leg and hisses. He limps over to the tree and leans against the other side.
“Well I guess I’ll have my battle scar from my first round of capture the flag.” Lance sounds excited about it so Keith doesn’t tell him that it likely won’t even scar.
Keith just hums and they stay quiet for a few minutes.
“I guess this was their whole search party which means I don’t think anyone else will be coming, and all we have to do now is have faith that our team finds the flag before you bleed out.” Keith smiles lazily at Lance and crosses his arms over his chest.
“Rude, if you would have helped then it wouldn’t have happened!” Lance’s Squeaky Voice is back and Keith can’t help but chuckle.
“Well I learned something today, you’re a masochist.” Keith’s smile turns into a smirk.
Lance turns bright red and shuts up, not even responding to what Keith said.
After a few minutes they hear a bunch of yelling and whistling which leads them to believe that their team found the opponent’s flag.
“Looks like it’s time to go, we won.” Keith doesn’t even wait for Lance and starts walking off.
“Aren’t we going to get the flag down?”
“Nah the nymphs will take care of it in the morning.”
When Lance takes a step to walk and nearly falls is when Keith remembers his leg and walks up to grab around Lance’s side to help him walk.
“Damn you’re heavier than you look,” Keith groans as they start walking.
Lance just grunts and tries to avoid putting weight on his leg.
~
After a while they finally make it back to where they started and they find people starting the celebrations, but Keith just grabs a bag off of a table and leads Lance back to the tree they were at this morning.
“Kind of figured we should take care of this before any celebrating.” Keith points to Lance’s leg and starts digging in his backpack.
Lance just hums and nods, and then he realizes, really realizes where the gash is. Upper thigh, right leg. Keith plans to bandage it, which means the pants will have to come off.
Right after Lance realizes it is when Keith tells him to remove his pants, and he says it like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
Lance does it though, grunts a little as he pries off the jeans there were probably a little too tight to consider a good athletic choice, and he sets them to the side.
Keith has pulled some items out of his bag and gets to work. First pouring a bottle of water over it to clean up the blood, and then he pulls out a bottle that Lance recognizes.
“This is gonna burn, but you know that so just be ready,” Keith starts pouring the alcohol without much more warning and Lance tries really hard not to screech, and mostly succeeds.
Once the worst is over, Keith dabs it with some gauze and starts bandaging it. Putting padding along the wound and wrapping around Lance’s thigh with medical tape.
Keith grabs something else off the ground and hands it to Lance, “Here eat this. In small amounts it helps us heal faster, it’s called ambrosia. This should mostly be closed up by the morning.”
Lance nods and nibbles on the square that Keith gave him.
Keith pulls a pair of shorts out of his bag and tosses them at Lance, “they might be a little small but it’s better than walking back to your cabin in boxers.” He’s rubbing the back of his neck like he’s embarrassed and Lance thinks it’s adorable.
“Thank you. Really, thank you for everything you’ve done to help me. You’ve done more than anyone else after I was just tossed in a cabin last night, scared and confused.” Lance makes his voice sound as sincere as possible and looks at Keith the whole time.
Keith moves to sit next to Lance by the tree and responds, “When I got here it was the same, and I know that it’s really lonely. I know that I’m not the best with people but I figured I could do the best I can for you so you don’t end up like me.” He scratches the back of his neck and looks up towards the stars.
Lance sees the reflection of the stars in Keith’s eyes and the soft smile on his face, and before he really realizes it he’s using one of his hands to turn Keith’s head and brings their lips together for a soft kiss.
It’s quick and not nearly long enough for either of them but that’s not really what matters right now.
“You don’t have to be lonely anymore,” Lance ends that with another kiss, one that’s a little longer this time.
“You know usually the clothes come off after the stripping,” Keith is smirking again and Lance would give anything to have this forever.
Lance snorts and leans on Keith’s shoulder; not worrying about the monsters ready to kill him, not worried about anything really. Just enjoying the moment he’s in.