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It was the kind trust
It is not the first time Jun’s kicked out of Olympus. It is the first time in almost 200 years that it happens, though, and he’s not liking it.
Zeus has a bad personality and an even worse temper, nothing new there. Jun wasn’t expecting him to get sulky and mad over the fact that Jun told him he wouldn’t be changing the way the sun rises just because it affected his tulips.
He was chilling in the big Olympus hall, eating some chips on his throne when Zeus entered, stomping and yelling for him to get out of his sight. Apparently, the 0.5 seconds Zeus gave Jun to get out weren’t enough because after that he was still sitting there trying to process what was happening. Zeus wasn’t pleased, so he banished Jun from Olympus.
Zeus exiled Jun to the Earth just because he refused to change the whole sunset and sunrise scheme to prevent Zeus’ tulips from getting burnt. Wasn’t it easier to ask Demeter for stronger flowers or whatever, anyway? Of course not, he had to ask Jun and then banish him.
Now, it isn’t like he doesn’t have powers when he’s on Earth, because he actually has. It’s just that they’re not as effective as when he's on Olympus or when he’s not being punished. Yeah, Zeus didn’t just throw him out, he took a part of Jun’s powers and left him in— where is this? South Korea?
So here he is, the almighty Junhui, also known as Apollo, feeling cold, lost and hungry. Watching a man prepare delicious hot dogs in a food truck when Jun has no Earth money to buy any, makes everything especially worse.
He has no money, no official documents that accredit him as an actual person, no place to go to. He doesn’t even have a jacket, he’s just wearing some jeans and a plain white t-shirt.
Oh, and he doesn’t have a cellphone. Yeah, in this cruel and globalized world Jun finds himself phoneless.
Zeus really wants him to suffer.
He walks around for a while. Wherever he is it seems to be a place that is popular amongst college students, with lots of food trucks and cozy coffee shops. There are benches every few meters and there are even some random shops like the one in a corner that seems to sell amulets. In the window is a tarot reading offer— 50% off if you also buy your own set of cards.
Whatever, those are always scams, the humans should know it by now. Maybe if a witch is doing the readings the thing could actually work, but even like that Jun would have his doubts; witches aren’t meant to do that kind of thing. The only ones that can really see the future and such are the oracles, Jun knows that, of course! He’s the God of prophecy, after all. He-
“Hello. Did you forget your wallet?” a nice voice asks beside him. Jun stops his mental blabbering and looks at the one speaking to him.
Hm, what a handsome human , he thinks. His eyes are gentle and his smile soft. He’s wearing some weird and very colorful clothes and Jun doesn’t know a lot about fashion, but if Keeping Up With the Kardashians has taught him anything, he’s sure that the things the man is wearing are totally fashionable. He also has a backpack with him, some big canvas and a transparent bag of art-related things like brushes. His clothes are covered in paint, so maybe he is not wearing them to be in tune with Kylie’s tips, but rather because he doesn’t want to ruin his actual clothes.
However, he is very handsome. An appealing face, Jun would say, oval shaped with soft round edges and pretty eyes, thick lips. He has a mess of brown hair Jun would love to groom. The ends curl out and Jun resists touching the soft strands.
Yes, a fine looking man indeed.
What was the question?
“Uh…”
The man giggles, like that syllable Jun muttered had explained everything to him, “It’s okay! I tend to forget things too, you know. Come, let’s have dinner together. I mean, hot dogs aren’t the fanciest dinner but they will do.”
Other Gods (Ares) would get mad and irritated for the offer, asking how did a human dare to say he would buy him dinner. I don’t need your help, you useless human , he’d grunt. Jun is not Ares, though; a pretty human is offering to buy him dinner when he doesn’t even know what currency they use in Korea. Besides, he’s obviously very kind and a good company. So yeah, Jun accepts to eat hot dogs with the adorable human.
Jun knows it is Korea because he knows the language, and he’s been hearing the students talk among themselves for a while now. Back in Olympus, even if he really has a lot of things to do, he has had a lot of free time in all those years he’s been alive. Enough time to learn pretty much every language ever, and yeah, he could be a little rusty, but he can manage.
In the middle of their second hot dog, the adorable human jolts and Jun looks at him. They’re sitting on a bench under the yellowish light of a street lamp. People around them are busy with their own things, eating their own food or going on their own paths.
It’s been such a long time since Jun's last visit to Earth.
“I’m Minghao, by the way. I never introduced myself,” the human says, shyly. “It must have been weird for you to have a stranger inviting you to dinner, sorry. You just looked very lost.”
Ah, yeah, Jun can tell. He knows about the strange things the humans invented over the years, but he had never seen them, so he can imagine his shocked face at seeing all those objects in real life. The one thing he’s really familiar with is the TV. What a good invention the TV is.
“My name is Junhui,” he beames. “And no, it wasn’t weird at all, I’m thankful, actually. Very thankful you approached me, since I don’t have my wallet with me right now and I was starving.”
He was hungry, that’s true, but it wasn’t affecting him that much. He’s a God, he has human necessities but things like hunger or illness could never kill him (unless it was an illness proper of Gods, but that’s another case). He doesn’t really need it, but he enjoys eating.
There’s also the money issue. He was recently kicked out and a part of his magic was extracted from him, so his powers and body are readjusting. Any other day— the days that are about to come, will be good days in which he will be able to make money appear out of thin air. Not this day, though.
Minghao hums, “Is your dorm nearby?”
“I don’t live in a dorm.”
“Your apartment, then? Or do you live in a house? Oh, you’re not a foreigner?” he asks, eyes big with surprise. “Since you have an accent I thought you were a foreigner. Maybe from… Somewhere in China?”
Jun hates those region things. It’s pretty much the same God but with different names.
“I’m from that part of the world, yeah.”
They continue to talk, mostly about things like the weather, the food they’re eating and eventually about China. The China Minghao’s referring to is different from Jun’s one, he’s sure. Minghao had lived all his life there before going to Korea and he continues to visit his parents every summer and winter. Jun, on the other hand, had been there when the emperor Di Xin was still a very alive asshole.
It is getting late, the hot dogs are long gone and being digested and Jun is still wearing a stupidly thin shirt.
“Would you believe me if I said I’m a God? No, you know what? Don’t answer that. I will just prove it.”
Yeah, he won’t be getting the flu and if someone stabs him in the middle of his sleep in some random bench in a park he won’t die, but fuck it will hurt like Hell, it will be cold and in short he won’t have a good time. Minghao is pretty, polite and he seems likely not to run away when he discovers Jun’s true identity, so he’s about to risk it without regrets.
What’s the worst that can happen? Scaring the adorable human? He can live with that (it will make him sad, but he can).
With Minghao’s attentive eyes on him, he snaps his fingers, and for a moment, the sun is there, shining brightly like the late morning in the sky. Minghao looks at the sky, then at Jun, then at the sky and then at Jun once more, and Jun winks. With that, the night sky goes back to normal, leaving only shocked and mildly scared humans that couldn’t even take their phones out to record. Ha, who’s the dumb one now?
They will probably say it was a weird climate thing, like they always do when the clouds are in strange shapes or when the rainbows are doing weird things. The scientists always have something to say about the unknown things that happen around the world and that involve the sky. Most of those things don’t have an explanation and they just say some random, difficult words for the public in general and that calms everyone down.
The truth is that every time something like that happens Jun is just being moody. He tends to forget his emotions affect the Earth and every time he throws a tantrum or is happier than normal the humans get weirdly shaped clouds and strong waves of solar wind.
Minghao seems to be speechless, contrary to all the rest of humans around them, who can’t shut up about what just happened. Minghao stares at Jun for a long, long time. So long it starts to turn uncomfortable.
Jun starts to plan how to run away from there as quickly as possible when Minghao gasps, opening his eyes even wider, and says, “Okay, so you’re a God. That was some pretty impressive and convincing thing what the fuck. God— I mean, you? Uh. So now I know you’re a God but— why did you tell me?”
The god grins. “Can I stay in your apartment?”
…
Jun is the God of the Sun, also known as Apollo. He does a lot of other things, too. He’s the God of the Prophecies, Oracles, somehow he’s a health deity, a handsomeness deity. He’s a lot of things, he has a good career as a God, if he can show off a bit.
Being that he has so many titles, he also has to do a lot of things and he has a lot of places to be at. He’s been in the old Rome, New York, England, the super ancient Greece, China, Peru, he’s been everywhere, and yet, he has never been in a place like this.
Minghao took Jun to his place quickly after his request, which, being very honest, Jun was sure he wouldn’t accept. Maybe it was the whole God thing and the man was still impressed but hell, boy, Jun was a perfect stranger, and yet he took him to his home. Not that the God is complaining.
The man’s apartment is close to the college he studies at, according to what Minghao told him, and the building looks clean and not very expensive, but hey, that doesn’t matter. What interests Jun is the apartment since he will be staying there.
Now, he really has never been in a place like this; so full of art, of colors, of life . It’s like an explosion of paintings happened there, all the walls covered in wide and long pieces of paper that are attached there with adhesive tape in the ceiling and the floor, and the paper is full of drawings, colors, stickers, a messy jumble that shouldn’t look good but it does look amazing.
The furniture is normal, black and white, but the cushions have cute patterns of adorable animals. Minghao takes him on a tour around the tiny apartment. A kitchen with a table and three chairs, without a door or wall that separates it from the living room. Close, there’s a corridor with three doors in there. One is the bathroom, the other is Minghao’s room and the other used to be a bedroom too, but the human changed it to his study, where he paints and does his art.
There’s so many things to see, so many colors and drawings inside another drawings, it’s taking all of Jun’s attention, completely focused on the things in every wall in the living room.
Minghao approaches him while he’s staring at the draw in one the walls and Jun suddenly notices how bright this human’s aura is, as full of colors as his apartment. It’s yellow and pink and orange and shines, shines, shines. The man tells Jun where to find everything in the kitchen and then the bathroom. Jun takes a shower first and when they’re both ready to go to sleep, Minghao asks, “What is your plan? What will you do here on the Earth?”
Jun goes to sleep with that question in his mind.
…
It’s not the first time Jun is thrown to the Earth. It’s a bit different this time, though; he usually never has his powers with him and he always, always, has something to do. Zeus sends him there as a punishment, after all, so he gives Jun something to do: a specific mission, a city to found, a monster to kill, a human to serve. This time, however, Jun finds himself partially full of power and with nothing to do.
The first day, he sits on the couch watching Minghao go around preparing to go to school. The human eventually leaves and Jun just waits; for Zeus to send whoever to tell him what his mission will be this time, for his powers to disappear, for lighting to strike him. None of that happens, and Minghao comes back with a tired smile, warm eyes, a colorful aura, and Chinese takeout.
The second day, Jun leaves the couch. He goes to the kitchen and prepares food for the human. Jun doesn’t really need to eat, and he told Minghao that; the day he arrived to the Earth and had hotdogs with the boy was a special day: his body without adjusting to the whole almost mortal thing. Now that he is doing fine, he doesn’t need nourishment.
Minghao arrives, groaning and telling Jun from the principal door that he was too tired to stop at a restaurant to get food, so he’ll just call and have it delivered. His monologue is abruptly cut when he smells the meat Jun is preparing in the kitchen.
“Oh, you didn’t have to,” he says, now in the kitchen. Jun looks at him.
“You can’t spend all your money on food and delivery, Minghao. It’s not healthy, too.”
So Minghao eats his food. Jun asks him how much he has to pay for staying there and the human stutters that is not necessary, since he doesn’t really use that much water or electricity, and he doesn’t even have a room for himself, he just sleeps on the couch. It becomes a little fight, that Jun ends up winning thanks to the little trick he decides to use: make money appear from thin air. Minghao is highly impressed by that and well, since you won’t be like, working to get that money or whatever, I might as well accept it, right? I don’t want to be rude and you’re insisting… That’s what Minghao says, blushing but reaching for the money gladly.
Jun laughs. What a special human that boy is.
...
On the third day, Jun is tired of sitting on the couch until it is time to prepare dinner. Waiting for something to happen is harder than expected: Zeus is not sending messengers, lightings or appearing in Minghao’s living room and demanding for an apology while torturing Jun.
So Jun decides to go and have a nice morning walking around the city. He spends hours observing the pretty flowers in a random garden and then helping the cute old lady to water them and do some gardening, he eats everything he wants, ends up joining a dance group for a few songs in a park and helps a mom with the groceries and plays with her kids for a while. He goes back to Hao’s apartment near the hour to prepare dinner with the biggest smile, satisfied with his day.
When Minghao goes back, however, he feels like it’s taking him way too much time to reach his place; suddenly every neighbor and person ever stops him to talk about the beautiful stranger that made their day better. It was normal thing people stopped him to talk since he was polite and friendly with everyone, besides that the grannies seemed to love him, but this was… too much. Every single person he encountered had something to say about the handsome guy Minghao didn’t even know.
“Who’s that guy?” he asked the woman who couldn’t stop talking about how the man helped her with the groceries. She looked at Minghao and giggled.
“Your boyfriend, Hao! The boy that lives with you.”
He enters his apartment and it seems like Jun is shining with his own light. He smiles at Hao from the kitchen, wearing a silly pink apron he doesn’t know where the God got from and tells him the food is almost ready.
Minghao’s heart does a weird thing, but it ends quickly and he pretends it didn’t happen. He smiles.
“You had an interesting day, huh?”
…
Minghao takes him to his college the next day. He told Jun something about throwing his life away in that couch all morning without doing something that mattered and Jun just stared at him, finally explaining the concept of immortality after five silent, long seconds. The human stared back at him after that and huffed, telling him it was the same.
So now he’s trying to decide what thing he wants to study in this college.
“Um, maybe medicine?” Minghao offers, looking at the booklet in Jun’s hands.
The kind lady who does all the important things in there is sleeping soundly with her head on the desk, waiting for Jun to wake her up from her slumber with his magic. Meanwhile, Jun is making a decision and Minghao is just standing there, half weirded out by Jun’s powers and half amazed.
“Again?” Jun grumbles.
“Well, I don’t know. We don’t have like, archery majors or whatever you do.”
The God ignores that comment and thinks: what’s he good at? objectively speaking, everything. He’s a God, he can do everything. So he decides a new approach: what does he like? Ah, now that one is better. He loves medicine but he literally invented that, so no. Too boring, too familiar. Arts, that’s something he’s good at and that he likes. But then again, he’s been doing art since he was born. He wants to use his brain in a different way, in a less artistic way this time. He looks at the booklet one more time and nods for himself.
“What about microbiology?”
Clearly, Minghao is not expecting that.
“Oh. Okay. Yeah, it sounds interesting.”
And just like that, what he will be doing for the next few months is decided.
…
It was the gentle words
Jun has been alive for a long time, more than can be counted, and yet, adjusting is difficult for him still.
Change is not something that he’s good with, or that he can handle, so since the moment he fell from Olympus, he has to admit, he has been waiting for the stress, for the anxiety to strike.
He was expecting, but maybe not like this.
It’s not the first time he’s been thrown to the Earth, but every single time he struggles and has a really bad time. Usually, by now, he would have been to Hell and back. Being throw to Earth is nothing new, he’s not being tortured , and yet, he’s having difficult time, because it means change, means getting out his comfort zone, adapting.
He doesn’t know what Zeus is expecting from him. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do. No one explained to him, no one is coming to explain it, and he’s terrified.
Is he not necessary anymore? Could Zeus turn someone else into the God of the Sun? What if he’s supposed to be doing something really important that could affect everything but he’s not doing it and everything will go wrong? But if it was important Zeus or Poseidon or whoever would already be here telling Jun to snap out of it because he’s not on a fucking vacation and things need to be done . No one is coming, so it is not important, probably.
Jun doesn’t sleep, but he doesn’t need to (he usually does, though). He has too many doubts and worries to even keep his eyes closed, so he gets up and walks around the apartment, then around the neighbourhood, and then around the city.
He’s being punished, but he doesn’t know how this— living with a cute and polite human, attending to college, eating whatever he wants, being free to go out and do anything, applies as a punishment. He’s supposed to be having a hard and horrible time, but he just feels joy. He’s anxious, tired and when he’s not utterly happy, he’s scared: Zeus could show up at any moment and do something crazy and Gods, Jun just hopes he doesn’t show up when Minghao is there.
When he goes back, the apartment smells like lavender and coffee. It’s a bit cold and it’s so early the sun is nothing but bluish tones entering the place from the window. The walls are colorful like always, the couch where Jun is supposed to sleep is a mess of blankets and pillows, his backpack is carelessly thrown to a side of the living room with Minghao’s art bag over it. There are books here and there and brushes in every surface available that is not covered with Jun’s research papers.
Jun tries not to think about that word. That cursed word.
Minghao is serving two cups of coffee, smiling and wearing the softest sweater ever. He looks at Jun and says, “no sugar, right?”
How could a simple question, so mundane, so easy, so insignificant, sound so gentle, so kind, so right ?
They drink from their respective cups in silence, Minghao tells him he will be home early that day, and Jun hums, asking him to go to the supermarket to buy some things Jun needs to make dinner. Hao leaves his cup in the sink and barely touches Jun’s shoulder with his hand in a soft manner when he’s going out the kitchen, mumbling something about needing a certain shade of green paint for a class. The God reminds him to take his bottle of water with him and Hao hands him his backpack when they’re about to leave.
Home , Jun’s traitorous mind supplies, even against his will.
…
Selene arrives and Jun is sure he could cry— he actually cries a little.
Minghao and he are having dinner when a soft knock is heard in the principal door of the apartment. Minghao is the one who gets up to open the door, and he lets out a shrill, calling for him, voice trembling, “Jun! Junhui, come here, now!”
Jun teleports there in a blink, ready to fight and kill whoever is threatening the human— but there is no one. “Uh…”
“My fucking God, on the floor!”
So he looks at the floor outside their apartment and there is a snake. A bright yellow, two meters long snake, with crimson eyes looking directly to him. A bifid tongue makes its way out the snake’s mouth and Jun feels like crying .
He drops to his knees and takes the snake into his arms and to his chest, sobbing how much he had missed it, “Selene! Oh, my sweet, lovely girl, you’re here! I thought I wouldn’t see you until I was back at the Olympus— and who knows how far that moment is from now!”
The snake hisses happily, tangling itself on Jun, and then he realizes he should probably explain this to Minghao. He turns around and Hao is standing right where he was before Jun made that whole scene in their front door. His smile is a bit strained and he’s holding the doorknob with a tight grip, like he is afraid that if he lets it go he’ll pass out.
“A friend of yours?” Hao asks.
“Ah, yes, she’s my best friend! I think you humans call it a pet.”
“Your pet is a big ass yellow snake.”
“Yes!” he giggles. “She usually likes to keep it low and morphs into a 50 centimeters long snake. She just arrived, though, so she’s adjusting.” Then, he realizes, “Oh Gods, you’re the owner of this place and I didn’t ask you if she can be here. Actually, you seem to be a bit scared of her. Selene’s not dangerous, I promise.”
Then the look is there. Yes, that look Minghao gives Jun more and more with every passing day. The one that is deep and of unreadable emotions, the one that makes Jun’s heart flutter. The look that announces Minghao is about to say something that will make Jun want to cry a bit, and to make him want to hug the human and never let go.
“It’s totally okay,” Hao starts, letting the doorknob go. “She clearly makes you happy, so I couldn't send her away even if I was terrified. Besides… This is your home now too, so if you want to keep a very long snake in here, you don’t have to ask me.”
He’s still a bit stiff, a bit cautious when he reaches forward and carefully touches Selene’s head. Jun looks at him from his crouching position; Minghao is petting the snake with a cute little smile and thin, cold fingers.
Selene melts into the touch and girl, Jun understands the feeling.
...
The sun was having some troubles. Jun had to readjust it, and okay, that’s routinary work for the God of the Sun, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t get tired. The amount of power and energy required for the task is immense and he had been at it for two days before it was finished.
It’s the same routinary, old work of always. All the life doing it, an eternity of fixing, creating, readjusting. It’s something he has to do. He gets tired and sore but it never mattered because that’s his job. He does it fine, perfect, but it never mattered to anyone because, well, why would it? It’s exactly what he’s supposed to do. And yet…
“Tired?” Minghao asks, sitting beside him on the couch. The sun is starting to set and its colors are beautiful, a new tone Jun decided to try.
The god gives him a single nod, closing his eyes, enjoying the company, the warm sun, the comfortable couch, the good lighting. Minghao puts his cold hand on Jun’s left thigh, close to his knee.
It’s the same work he has been doing since the beginning of the times. He gets tired but it doesn’t matter. It’s a big thing, but he’s supposed to do that big thing, so it really doesn't matter. And yet…
“You did a good job out there, Jun,” Minghao says, kind, polite, gentle, soft, every synonym of the word amiable is in Minghao’s voice. Always, always for Jun. “You did great. Thank you for your hard work.”
It’s the same as always. And yet… Minghao makes it feel like it’s worth it.
…
They are walking through the campus. The day is warm and Minghao’s presence next to Jun is warmer. They just came back from eating outside, and Jun is walking Minghao to his next lecture.
The day is warm and Minghao’s hand is warmer when it brushes Jun’s hand. Jun looks at Minghao, and he just smiles brightly at him. Jun glances to the front again, feeling his cheeks blush and ah, he must look so silly, smiling like a fool, blushing for the simple touch of Minghao’s hand.
They arrive at the classroom and Jun is about to leave after another smile but Minghao holds his hand, intertwined fingers and everything, and Jun does nothing but stare at their joined hands.
“Thank you for accompanying me here,” Minghao says, and now he’s the one blushing, apparently realizing what he just did with the whole holding hands thing.
“Ah, it’s nothing, I like being with you, you know,” Jun says.
“Yeah. Yeah, I know.”
They stand there, near the door of the classroom, watching each other, vaguely aware of the other people filling the room little by little. One of Minghao’s friends calls for him from the door, saying the professor is about to arrive, and they separate.
The human inclines a bit, leaving a soft, barely-there, kiss.
Minghao is not a man of many words, but Jun doesn’t think he needs them when he has such expressive eyes. Eyes that are screaming a word, a feeling Jun hasn’t had the honour to host in his chest, close to his heart, in so painfully long.
“I’ll see you later at home, love.”
After saying that, Minghao enters his classroom with a smile that is so bright, so full of happiness, so pretty, and Jun doesn’t want to be away from that.
If I was a simple human who believed in Gods and miracles, Jun finds himself thinking, I’d be asking, I’d be begging, to never be away from Minghao.
…
It was the careful hands
Jun doesn’t have class early, but he is awakened at 6:45 am anyway, all thanks to the noise Minghao is making around the apartment. He gets up and goes to investigate why Minghao is making such amount of noise that early in the morning. He finds the human running from one side of the living room to another, throwing things inside his art bag, swearing out loud, about to cry, if Jun has to be brutally honest.
Selene is curled in one of the cushions that are thrown on the floor and she also observes the human. Minghao adapted to the snake rather easily, just like she did to him, and now they are as good friends as Jun himself is with both of them. He thought about feeling offended at the openness Selene is showing to a human she met recently, being that she took a while to warm up to him, but Jun can understand her, he also fell for Minghao’s charm in the first second.
“Hao?” he calls, and when the mentioned turns around, Jun is sure Minghao will definitely cry, he even has watery eyes and is starting to sniff.
“I woke you up, didn’t I?” Minghao asks, frustrated. “I’m so sorry, Jun, it’s just so fucking late and there’s no way in heaven I will manage to arrive at a decent hour and I’m tired because I didn’t sleep for shit last night and—”
Jun walks to him and holds his hand, which Hao was agitating in the air while complaining. He smiles for the human, and once he’s sure the other is calm, he goes around the living room gathering Minghao’s stuff and putting it all inside his art bag. Minghao watches him do it, without saying a single word.
You see, as the God of the Sun, Jun tends to wake up the moment the sun rises, which is early. Most of the time he wakes up before the sun rises, actually, but now that he’s a college student, he appreciates his hours of rest and sleep. However, he doesn’t think twice before offering Minghao to take him to school. The human seems surprised by the offer, and asks him how would he take him there if he doesn’t own a car. Jun smirks.
“Hold my hands,” the god instructs. “I’m gonna teleport us there.”
“Uh, is that safe?”
“Of course it is!” Jun huffs, taking Minghao’s hands in his, once the other had his bag hanging from his shoulder. “Do I need to remind you that I’m a powerful ancient God? I can do this teleporting thing even if I’m asleep.”
Hao’s eyes soften, and he nods. He gives a light squeeze to Jun’s hands.
“Let’s go then, love.”
They don’t need to hold hands to teleport, actually, but Jun would be damned if he didn’t take every chance to hold Minghao’s hands.
One second they’re standing in the middle of their living room and the next they’re standing in the rooftop of the building Minghao has his first class at.
Jun sees the expression in the other’s face, and he’s sure he feels surprised but also extremely happy he will be there right on time. His thoughts are proved true when Minghao gives him a tight hug, thanking him endlessly.
There’s a kiss in the cheek, way too close to the lips, one last hug, and Minghao is running through the door towards his class. Jun leans against the railing, giggling to himself.
What curious, beautiful creatures the humans are.
…
Junhui, also known as Apollo, God of the Sun, the almighty, powerful, bold, wise God. One of the Gods of the Olympus. The one who has defeated great enemies, who has lived since before time was even invented, who has the Oracles under his control.
Temples, cults, entire religions and bloody wars, all in his honor. He could have the whole world if he wanted. He didn’t need protection, he didn’t need advice. He could do anything whenever he wanted to.
He is incredible, important, something out of this universe. He doesn’t get hurt, he’s been at war, at the battlefield, fighting with fists, swords and guns. Everyone knows all of this. Minghao knows all of this…
“Jun? Hey, you fell asleep on the couch. Come, get up, let’s go to bed,” Minghao’s voice is soft, gentle, and his touch on Jun’s shoulder is the same he’d use to hold fine and fragile porcelain.
Minghao’s hand is holding his carefully, with care, while they walk to the human’s room. They get in the bed and Hao hugs Jun from the side. It feels like silk, it is warm, it is sweet-smelling bed sheets and a comfortable silence.
Jun, the God of the Sun, who is so endlessly powerful could be also described as a monster, almost a machine; something so mighty and strong it starts to morph into something that scares... And yet, Minghao’s hands, the treasured hands of an artist, are the gentlest whenever he touches Jun.
…
It was the tender feelings
Minghao sends Jun to the convenience store late at night. The moon is shining brightly and the breeze is warm.
It was almost midnight, Jun and Minghao watching TV in the living room, when they realized they didn’t have dinner. The human decided he wanted to cook, something simple, he said, but they didn’t have anything left after the big and impressive lunch Jun made, so Minghao asked Jun to go to the 24 hours convenience store while he was busy getting everything ready.
And here he is, making his way back to the apartment, a plastic bag in his hand. And then there she is, walking right beside him.
Blond hair, so yellow and so bright it looks like gold, long and wavy. Big grey eyes, red lips. Skin so white it looks like the moonlight is a part of her. She’s almost as tall as Jun, with balanced and thin limbs. Delicate features. She wears a golden dress, tight around her, making her look precious, like a gem. Around her waist, loosely hangs a belt made of suns; a chain of orange suns just above her hips.
When Selene is in her human form, Jun recognizes with awe every time, she’s the most beautiful woman ever.
“You don’t like him,” she says, her voice slow and yellow, a sound Jun has missed.
Jun gives her a side glance, huffing. She laughs, covering her mouth with her hand; long and orange nails.
“Oh, sorry, it’s been too long since I last used my words, I got rusty on this whole talking thing. Let me rephrase it. You don’t just like him.”
Ah, Jun would be damned if he just liked Minghao.
“No, I don’t just like him.”
“Are you ready?”
“For what?”
“For that word,” she explains, in a simple tone. “Are you ready to put a name to your feelings or do we have to wait more?”
“Do me the honors, sweetheart.”
She sighs, but she’s also smirking, so Jun counts it as a win.
“You’re in love, Junhui.”
They walk in silence for a while. There are only just a few people outside at this hour of the night. Some couples and students. Jun and Selene make a weird pair: she looks like she just got out a fashion magazine, and he looks like any other overworked college student.
“What will you do when you have to go back?” she asks.
Believe it or not, replacing a God is not impossible. Yeah, it’s hard, but not impossible. Zeus could find someone who fits the God of the Sun vacancy just right, in case Jun doesn’t want his job anymore. It would take time, and some obstacles, but no one, not even Gods, are irreplaceable.
“Hm. I haven’t thought of that.”
And because Selene is Selene, and hardly anyone else knows him better than her, she asks:
“Then, what will you do if you don’t go back?”
It’s hidden in her words, but the real question is: “you wouldn’t mind if you don’t go back? If you lose your powers?”
And because Jun is Jun and he’s nothing but honest with her, he just shrugs.
“You know, Selene, I wouldn’t really mind.”
She looks at him and he smiles. After two seconds she smiles too. It’s a small, discrete gesture, but it is the most sincere she can offer to him.
“I like Earth’s food more anyway.”
The moon is bright, and Selene’s smile and Jun’s feelings are too.
...
It was the creative mind
Jun knows Minghao is creative. He knows it and sees it every day, literally; in the multicolor walls of the apartment, in the paintings hanging from said walls, in the clothes he wears. Hell, even the words he chooses when talking show how creative that man is.
As a God of the arts, Jun knows talent when he sees it. He has been present when the biggest, most beautiful works of art had been made. Jun made sure the great artists had inspiration. He thought he had already seen everything, he had seen every style, every paint, every draw.
Last time he saw the hour it was two am. Jun doesn't know if it's been hours or mere minutes, but they're still there, Hao sitting right under the only source of light in the living room: the tall lamp that is positioned right beside the couch. Jun is sitting across him in a one place couch, just observing him do art.
They been there for a long time, maybe right after the sun went down. Jun was reading a book of microbiology and Hao was busy with a book about art history or something like that. Eventually, in Jun’s side of the room the light of the lamp wasn’t enough for him to see— well, it was; he can see in the dark, but little by little he’s been taking up the humans’ mannerisms and ways: humans can barely see in the darkness. Jun’s been living with a human, so he, without realizing, found himself switching the lights on in the night and stopping his activities when he realized it was dark already.
So he stopped and after confirming Minghao was alright with the TV being turned on, he did so and now he’s there, well into the night with the prettiest human in front of him, totally focused, the TV like background sound.
Jun doesn’t know when was that Minghao dropped the book and began drawing, but he seems to be too into it, so Jun doesn’t ask.
Some more minutes pass before Minghao holds the draw he made and shows it to Jun: it's him, Jun. It's the features that belong to the God, his face, his smile and eyes and brows, but the style, the drawing in itself it’s all Minghao .
As the God he is, Jun is very used to people drawing his face. He has sculptures, statues, temples, all with his face there. He's had his face sculpted in every material ever, from gold to mud, and yet, seeing that work, that yellowish piece of paper with a draw of his face, made with cheap graphite, he finds himself breathless.
It's beautiful.
It's him. It's creativeness, talent, technique. It's Jun's smiling face looking back at him, with messy hair and scrunched nose.
He looks at Hao, who is smiling widely, content and proud, and Jun knows it: it's art, it's a creative mind. It's skilled hands and deep in his mind, a shy voice murmurs "it's him".
"it's the artist”
…
It was the soft heart
After a long day at college, the only thing Jun truly wants is to go back to his and Minghao’s apartment, have dinner and then just lazy around until it is time to go to sleep.
He knows something’s going on the moment he opens the front door and he’s greeted by silence.
Since Selene gathered enough power to transform into her human form, she’s always singing and making music, always accompanying Minghao with her voice while he makes his own art. If Selene isn’t singing or playing any instrument, Minghao makes sure there’s music playing somehow. There’s never silence.
Jun walks to the dining room and Minghao is there; he’s drinking what seems to be tea, smiling politely to the man in front of him: bulky, dark eyes and hair, hard features, a very expensive suit.
“Oh, Jun, you’re back!” Minghao exclaims. The human is good at pretending, he almost fools Jun, but he can notice the tone of voice Minghao is using: he’s relieved, he’s grateful Jun is there and he can totally understand why.
The man in the suit turns to see Jun and smiles at him widely, a smile Jun isn’t capable to return, not to him, not to Zeus.
Jun doesn’t know for how long Zeus has been there with Minghao, drinking tea and maybe having a small talk. Selene is in her snake form, curled in a corner and with her eyes glued on the two that are sitting by the table.
He leaves his backpack on the ground and before he can say anything, Zeus is standing, walking to him with the same smile as before, saying, “Junhui, so good to see you. I thought you were home and dropped by, but only sweet Minghao here was home. Oh, and Selene, of course.”
“What did you do to him?” Jun hisses. Zeus laughs and shakes his head.
“Nothing! Selene can tell you, we’ve been talking about the weather and stuff.”
That’s right, Jun’s sure. Jun’s sure Selene wouldn’t have let anything happen to Minghao, and he also knows he should probably not be scared of Zeus hurting the human because the other God doesn’t have any reason to do so but, well, it’s Zeus , he’s a irracional and stupid person— Hell, he got mad Jun didn’t change the Sun’s pattern only for his ugly tulips; Minghao could have offered him some cookies and the madman could have lost his temper because they were vanilla cookies and not chocolate cookies. So yeah, Jun is a bit scared he hurt Minghao, but the human is sitting there, smiling reassuringly to him.
“What do you want? You knew I wasn’t home. You felt I wasn’t home.”
Zeus’ smile morphs into a smirk, and he puts his hand on Jun’s shoulder, giving a light squeeze.
“Let’s go talk outside, kid.”
For outside, Zeus means the outskirts of the city, where only some people are around. They are silently walking side by side, the sun starting to set.
Jun isn’t sure what Zeus wants. He’s never sure, but right now he even feels anxious because Zeus could be there to punish him, to tell him to never go back… To tell him to go back, and, Jun realizes, he doesn’t want that one to be the reason for the presence of the other God.
“You’ve been working really hard, Junhui,” Zeus starts. “The same job for centuries and centuries and you never stopped being perfect at it. You never got bored.”
“I got bored,” he clarifies. “Back in the day, the sky used to be completely black all the time, but I got bored and to kill the time I painted it all the possible colors until it was the color it is now. I invented music and composed a lot of pieces. I invented musical instruments. I’ve done a lot of things while I’m bored, Zeus.”
“It’s different now.”
He sounds so convinced of it, so sure Jun was bored or is bored or— Jun, once again, doesn’t know what the God is thinking or what he means with his words.
“Why?”
Zeus sits on a bench and looks at the sun, slowly hiding behind a mountain. Jun sits down next to him, confused and annoyed.
“You’re the God that works the most,” Zeus says. “So I decided to give you some vacations. The problem was, you really seem to love your job, even if it gets boring for you from time to time.” The God chuckles, “It really pissed me off that you didn’t change the sun pattern for my tulips, but I can comprehend why you did it. It was a dumb request.”
“And still, you did it and then you got mad I didn’t obey you,” Jun mumbles, showing with his voice how irritated that topic made him.
“I didn’t get angry. I used it as an excuse to send you to the Earth so you could enjoy your vacations.”
That is the stupidest thing Jun has ever heard. That’s why he’s sure it was all Zeus’ idea.
Gods are not as bad as the stories the humans tell make people believe. They are not perfect, that’s true, but they’re not as evil or as painfully dumb as humans think. They’re gods and goddesses, they’ve been living for way too long, and that, if not intelligence, at least gave them wisdom.
Zeus is old, is a king, he’s Jun’s father, and he can be an asshole, but he would never, ever, send one of his best warriors, one of his most important Gods away just because some stupid tulips, or just because he wanted to. He must have had a reason.
That’s the thought that kept Jun awake all those nights; his father is not that stupid, but he sent him away for a stupid reason. Something was not right, something was oddly not in its place. Now, his father is telling him he sent him away because he needed vacations, and okay, it makes a little bit of more sense, but still. What the Hell.
“That’s so fucking stupid,” Jun yells. “You could have just told me to fuck off, but instead you vanished me to the Earth and the reason you gave was because of your ugly tulips.”
Zeus scowls at that but he keeps his calm temper. “If I had told you to take some time for yourself away in the Earth, would you have done it?”
“... No.”
“See? In my mind, it was the perfect plan; you would relax a bit and then I’d bring you back. You weren’t even locked out from the Olympus, Junhui, you could have just gone back any time, but you didn’t even try.” His father sighs. “What I wasn’t expecting was that Minghao boy.”
Jun takes a deep breath, ready to defend Minghao or to vanish his father to the Olympus, but when he looks at the other man, he’s smiling fondly at him, a soft look in his eyes.
“We’ve been living for a very long time, and we fall in and out of love, just like humans do, but if I have to be honest with you, this kind of love you feel for that human is not the kind of love you find every 100 years. It’s not the kind of love you find twice.”
“I— Dad—”
“Stay with your boy, Jun. For as long as you want.”
…
Minghao is walking from one side of the living room to the other, that’s how Jun finds him when he goes back to the apartment.
“Jun!” the human hurries to stand in front of him, wide eyes looking at Jun. “He— your dad— Zeus! He, um. He was very polite. We had a small talk and he said he was here because you’ve been away for quite some time.”
Jun nods, taking his jacket off.
“Yeah, he came to take me back to the Olympus.”
Too busy walking to the couch and sitting, Jun misses the way Minghao’s expression falls to something that could be only described as sorrowful. The human breathes and goes to sit with Jun.
“Ah, I see. Yes, it makes sense. You’re the God of the Sun, you probably have a lot of things to do. They need you back.”
“Yep.”
“And when are you leaving?”
Jun looks at him thanks to the tone of voice Minghao used. Just as the words he uttered, he seems to be full of sad feelings, refusing to look back at Jun, and it’s then that he realizes— Minghao is sure he will leave.
“No, wait, Hao—”
“It’s okay. I mean, not really, because I really don’t want you to leave but I totally understand that you have to. And I don’t want to hold you back and if you want to go back home—” he looks at Jun, decided— “then I’m not stopping you.”
That’s the thing about Minghao: he tells you to go away but he’s so under your skin that you can’t. That’s the thing about Minghao: his heart is so big, so gentle, so selfless, that even if it implies tearing apart his soul, he will let you do whatever you want. It doesn’t matter if it hurts him, it doesn’t matter if he thinks it’s stupid, if that’s what you want, you will have it. That’s the thing about Minghao: he loves and gives and never asks for something in return.
Minghao bought food for Jun because he was hungry. He let him stay at his place because he didn’t have anywhere to go. He allowed him in his life because Jun was curious about it. He is telling Jun he doesn’t want him to leave, because he’s honest like that, but he’s also telling him that if he wants to leave, he should freely go and not worry about the broken heart he leaves behind, because Minghao’s is just like that.
There’s one feeling Jun didn’t allow himself to name. There’s a word he didn’t allow himself to say.
Home and love always come together.
Home and love sound a lot like Minghao.
Jun smiles and approaches the human, enough to have their lips almost touching, “Home? If I want to go back home? Don’t be like that, love. I’m already at home.”