Fear the Reaper [malexmale]

Chapter Eleven

No one can see me or feel me, I tensed at the sound of Rowan's voice in my head, and don't panic. I am connected to you in quite a few ways right now, meaning I can feel what you feel, hear what you hear. And vice versa. Out of curiosity, I tested it. I stood still for a moment, focused in on the things that I didn't normally feel on a daily basis. I could feel a small ripple in my stomach, and it took me a full minute to realize it was Rowan's heartbeat. And when I concentrated harder, I caught a brief flitting thought from Rowan that made me cough and clear my throat.

Stop invading my privacy, Rowan said sternly and I held my hands up in surrender, watching my shadow copy the movements. Out of curiosity, I put my hand on my head and my shadow mimicked the movement, making me smirk.

Forgot to mention, Rowan said dryly, you can also control my movements like this. If you start to rub your belly and pat your head, I will shove my foot up your ass. I'm in the perfect position to do it. With that in mind, I decided I was done playing around. I teleported us from Styx to Olympus.

Talk about going from one world to another. Whereas Styx was in the midst of summer, Olympus was winding down towards winter. It wasn't freezing cold, but much cooler in comparison to Styx, and thankfully, it was bright and sunny, so my shadow was perfectly natural in the light. I appeared not far between the main town and Zeus's palace where Joxeia's office was located. The town below was a flurry with activity. Things had been rebuild after the whole Atlan fiasco, so the buildings were sparkling new and clean, some still in the process of being rebuilt, and the town was beginning to stretch out further around to connect to other smaller spots of activity.

Meanwhile, Zeus's palace sat high above the activity overlooking everything like the almighty king it housed within. The path wound up to the front steps that I took two at a time before reaching the door. I felt my neck tingle with Rowan's anticipation to be inside. I cleared my throat and stepped inside, pausing in the massive sleek modern foyer. Everything about the interior of this place was high end modern. Everything came in basic colors; black, white, gray, navy. Nothing too bright and flashy. Everything was geometric and perfectly placed and orderly, from the steel columns to glass doors.

I didn't stand there for too long, admiring the huge chandelier over my head because the air rippled around me. I felt myself tense involuntarily as Joxeia came into view from around the corner of a hallway further down from the foyer.

He looked as dazzling and beautiful and angelic as ever. He was completely androgynous, meaning that most of the time people mistook him for female rather than male. He was drop dead beautiful with delicate feminine features, smooth pink glossy lips, skin the color of very pale cream, hair like snow that fell in perfect straight locks down his back, and almond eyes the soft pinkish red of an albino. His body was lean and slender, which was accentuated by his choice in tight jeans and a knit white turtleneck under a long gray cardigan, his black heeled ankle boots only adding to his height.

He was honestly the epitome of beauty. It made sense. He was Creation. He created beauty, created life, created wonder and joy and happiness. He was everything fluffy and cute and perfect.

And I hated him for it.

"Stanton," Joxeia greeted me, looking surprised as he came into the room, but he knew better than to approach me and hug me. Instead, he stopped a good ways away from me and continued to look at me like I'd sprouted a tail. I made sure to keep not only the topics, but my mind focused on the task at hand. If Joxeia picked up on what was going on, and lord knew he fucking would because he was so goddamn smart, it was game over and I was screwed.

Nobody liked to be lied to more than Joxeia.

Honesty was his best, and probably only, policy.

"Hey," I said after a moment, then cleared my throat, reaching into my pocket and taking out the slip of paper from my pocket, holding it out to him, "Uh, someone recommended you to me?" Joxeia took the paper, took one look at it, and a small smile turned up the corners of his lips. He looked oddly happy to have had Hades recommend me, especially given how much he wanted to have a sit down with Hades and Hades refused, claiming he was totally and completely well.