𝐇𝐘𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐒

Chapter Five

Apollo saw no sign of the West Idiot, perhaps he was sulking in his cloud. That didn't make sense. 

Inside his head, he heard thousands of mortals praying to him. Where's the mute button when you needed it? Apollo sighed. His brain was empty. 

"My lord Apollo, why are you here?" Hyacinthus said, his perfectly aligned brow raised in confusion. 

"Gah-" Apollo scrambled to get on his feet, brushing the sand off his chiton. "It's a wonderful day, wouldn't it be nice to spend it at a beach?" 

"I didn't expect you to be here." Hyacinthus said. 

Hah, well, I did.

"If you want to be alone, lord, I can just leave-" Hyacinthus was folding his hands behind his back, in a vain attempt that the god wouldn't see him fidgeting. 

"No, no, my- um, it's fine." Apollo said. "And please don't address me so formally, I'd rather be friends with you." He gave no reason to his words, the only thought in his head was that this was progressing too slowly. 

"Well," Apollo said. The tension was thick in the air, like smoke wafting in from a burning hut. "race you?"

"Oh, sure, my- Apollo!" Hyacinthus said. Apollo savored the words. My Apollo. Of course that wasn't his intention to say something like that, but a tingle ran down his spine tenderly. 

His bare feet pelted the sand, specks of light bague flying into the air. Surely, Apollo thought, Poseidon wouldn't mind him using his beach. Hyacinthus stared at the god's golden hair, the way his limbs moved so gracefully even while in full sprint. He felt like a turtle compared to him. 

He had never seen a god before. Hyacinthus prayed daily and always sacrificed something at every meal, but none of them had paid attention to his pleas. His heart was tight, like he was fighting against something he couldn't break free from, but wanted that feeling to stay forever inside him. The sound of heart beat in his ears, the tightness in his chests, the urge to break down and laugh at the same time.

Was he plagued by madness? No, the god of medicine was right here, he couldn't be. He just felt something different in his heart.  The wind changed direction, blowing the god's scent. Pomegranate and honey... did someone rub oil on him? 

It smelled nice. 

Apollo reached the other side of the shore, turning around just in time to see Hyacinthus barreling forward, going too fast to stop himself.

"Wait, wait, wait-!" Hyacinthus screeched, digging his feet in the sand to slow himself down. It was a valiant attempt, but he collided into Apollo's forehead and fell backwards.