Ataraxia [BTS au | Heroes of Olympus]

29

"What are they looking at?" he wondered.

"Looking at," Echo sighed.

"One way to find out." Hosoek marched forward and began nudging his way through the crowd. "Excuse us. Pardon me."

"Hey!" one nymph complained. "We were here first!"

"Yeah," another sniffed. "He won't be interested in you."

The second nymph had large red hearts painted on her cheeks. Over her dress, she wore a T-shirt that read: OMG, I <3 N! ! ! !

"Uh, demigod business," Jin said, trying to sound official. "Make room. Thanks."

The nymphs grumbled, but they parted to reveal a young man kneeling at the edge of the pond, gazing intently at the water.

The guy at the pond was good-looking. He had a chiseled face with lips and eyes that were somewhere between feminine beautiful and masculine handsome. Dark hair swept over his brow. He might've been seventeen or twenty, it was hard to say, but he was built like a dancer—with long graceful arms and muscular legs, perfect posture and an air of regal calm. He wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans, with a bow and quiver strapped to his back. The weapons obviously hadn't been used in a while. The arrows were covered in dust. A spider had woven a web in the top of the bow.

As he edged closer, he realized the guy's face was unusually golden. In the sunset, the light was bouncing off a large flat sheet of Celestial bronze that lay at the bottom of the pond, washing the guy's features in a warm glow. The guy seemed fascinated with his reflection in the metal.

Behind him Jin inhaled sharply. "He's gorgeous." Around him, the nymphs squealed and clapped in agreement.

"I am," the young man murmured dreamily, his gaze still fixed on the water. "I am so gorgeous."

One of the nymphs showed her iPhone screen. "His latest YouTube video got a million hits in like, an hour. I think I was half of those!" The other nymphs giggled.

"YouTube video?" he asked. "What does he do in the video, sing?"

"No, silly!" the nymph chided. "He used to be a prince, and a wonderful hunter and stuff. But that doesn't matter. Now he just...well, look!" She showed Jungkook the video. It was exactly what they were seeing in real life—the guy staring at himself in the pond.

"He is sooooo hot!" said another girl. Her T-shirt read: MRS. NARCISSUS.

"Narcissus?" he asked.

"Narcissus," Echo agreed sadly.

He had forgotten Echo was there. Apparently none of the nymphs had noticed her either.

"Oh, not you again!" Mrs. Narcissus tried to push Echo away, but she misjudged where the camouflaged girl was and ended up shoving several other nymphs.

"You had your chance, Echo!" said the nymph with the iPhone.

"He dumped you four thousand years ago! You are so not good enough for him."

"For him," Echo said bitterly.

"Wait." Hosoek said "What's going on here? Why did Echo bring us here?"

One nymph rolled her eyes. She was holding an autograph pen and a crumpled poster of Narcissus. "Echo was a nymph like us, a long time ago, but she was a total chatterbox! Gossiping, blah, blah, blah, all the time."