"The most fundamental thing about a person is desire. It defines them. Tell me what a person wants, truly wants, and I'll tell you who they are, and how to persuade them." -Max Barry
chapter 25
It's the weekend now, Castor finished his final football game the day before and the couple-- along with Viv and Ahmik, who was sleeping face-planted onto a table-- decided to go to the park on their campus and Jazz was doing his usual workout routine as his god watched.
"Hey J," Vivianna says, making him pause in the middle of a push up and look at her. "Y'know what's poppin? How hot you look right now."
Yeah, right, he thought with a defeated groan, willingly falling onto his back into the grass, hands raised to give his best friend the almighty bird.
A few of his friends-- Kate, Lonnie, and Devin-- shouted out his name a couple yards away, waving at the musician who waves back once he realizes who they were, then they move on and continue about their day.
This prompts Castor to sigh as he watches his boyfriend relax into the grazz again, "We're such different people that it's disturbing."
"I'm sure you guys aren't that different," Viv giggles, spinning in a circle before stopping to pat Cas on the head.
"He has friends," The word is said in disgust and it almost makes Jazz choke on his giggle mid push up.
"Not that many," the weirdo sassily replies, only for her smile to get less unsure at Jazz's hum. "Wait, how many friends do you have, J?"
"Uh..." the musician holds himself in a plank, head tilting as he looks at his best friend. "What kind of friend? Like, I only talk to you in class friend, I hang out with you sometimes, or like an almost best friend but not quite? Oh, or the ones outside of University, too?"
"Um," She blinks. "Only at University?"
"I don't know, not that many," He does another push up. "Maybe only like, thirty-ish?"
"Thi-Thirty!" Viv shrieks, making Jazz almost, but not quite, face plant into the ground with a startled jerk. "What do you mean thirty?"
Cas guestered to the musician in a 'I told you so' way.
Pushing himself to sit up, he wrinkles his nose in reply, "Like, three-zero? I only have like five in every class, and sit with a lot of them at lunch. Y-you've, um, you've seen me with a big group of them?"
"I thought that was like, you moving with your class to a different building!" She exclaimed, then paused and put her hand out. "Wait, answer me this... Do you know everyone in your classes?"
"Of course," Jazz chuckles, smiling. "How else am I going to find new friends?"
"Oh god," Viv pinches her nose. "I'm friends with the literal human embodiment of sunshine."
"Er..." He tilts his head, blinking slowly. "No?"
"At least you're just friends with him, I'm dating him." Castor, with fake sympathy and an all too 'ugh' looking green to his song, says with the shake of his head. "Every morning I get blinded by his happiness. And I get it, getting up every morning and seeing himself in the mirror, it must be a good thing, but fuck, he needs to learn how to hate things more."
"Damn straight!" Viv snaps her hand sassily. "Then he'd be mean as he looks."
No one else could see it, but this made Ahmik's intense colors to grow amused, though he didn't move or say anything. Jazz briefly wondered how often he hid stuff like that before his best friend's words registered and he pouted.
When Castor comes to sit next to him in the grass, he mumbles out, "I look mean?"
"C'mon Jitterbug, you can't honestly believe that. We just--" His head jerks to the side, cutting him off, him still chuckling slightly. "We just called you the literal human embodiment of sunshine and you think we think you look scary? What she meant to say was that you're really hot and with your piercings and tattoos- -bit hot innit- -everyone can tell that. Which is the only intimidating thing around you."
People are intimidated by him because he's hot?
Say what?
Turning his head towards the celestial, Jazz asks, "Is that why people don't like you?"
"No, Love," Castor kisses his cheek, cupping his face with one hand. "They don't like me because I'm an asshole."
Jasper flushes, hiding his face. "Star!" The musician hides his face. "I need motivation, not kisses!"
Castor just shrugs, a cocky look on his face, and it's Viv who picks up the conversation with a cry of, "Ha, Motivation!"
Without saying anything else, and certainly not giving him a warning, his best friend comes right over to him, sits on his back, bops him on the head with something cold, and then giggles out, "Start moving until you throw up, you weak willed sot--"
"Vivianna," Castor snaps, sitting up straight to glare at her. Jazz was just plainly amused, but the person he wanted to be touching right now is certainly not the weirdo. "That's not what he-- mph!"
Jazz, not saying a single word, rolls his body over-- making Viv fall with a swear in the color of lilacs-- and grabs the celestial around the middle before rolling again, this time to prop himself over the god with a grin.
Now he was on top.
Which was very much a rarity as the musician was very much so not only a bottom but also submissive.
Raising an eyebrow, almost in a warning, Castor looks at Jazz's arms which were propped on either side of his head before looking at him with lighting-strike eyes that practically screamed 'I'm supposed to be on top' before saying, "What's this?"
Doing a quick push up with a smile and a "Motivation!" falling from his mouth as he pecks his boyfriend's cheek. Laughing, the celestial grips onto the musician's sweatshirt as he grows more red with each kiss that Jazz presses onto his face.
Then, after he was done loving up on his boyfriend, he let his body relax onto the god's-- long since learned that he didn't mind his sweat or after work-out self-- and cuddles his face into Castor's shoulder.
"I'm going somewhere for Christmas." Jazz mumbles out, trying to gather up the courage to ask.
"Oh?" The celestial says, threading his fingers through the back of his messy curls. "Are you excited for it?"
Excited that Castor will-- most likely-- come.
Jazz nods, "Pretty much anyone important to me is going to be there and I'd like you to meet them?"
"O-oh, I um, yeah? I didn't know -you actually want me to meet your family?" He doesn't know why Castor seems so surprised; he's his butterfly, of course he wants to share that joy with his family. "Are they- -bit hot innit- -going to be at your house, er, castle? When, or, where am I meeting them?"
"Ah, I didn't explain that right," The musician sits up, resting between his boyfriend's legs. "I know you don't like to be around too many people, but I want you to come with me. And you won't be around them all the time! We do activities in changing groups and, um-"
"What he means," Viv interrupts. "Is that everyone has their own cabin, it's basically this small town but on an island and with our families and the Riddles, and only one other Astoria family. So like, pretty much the plane ride is going to be the most crowded you're gonna get besides like, the flippity floppity freaking introductions that'll probably give you an aneurysm. But it's also a private plane-jet thingy so it's spacious."
The god's nose wrinkled all he says-- with a couple tics-- is, "I've never been on a plane before."
The weirdo laughs, all lilacs and orchids, before patting Castor on the head, "This will be fun for you then."
"Wait but, won't I like...get in the way?" Castor asks, making Jazz pout because-- no, no his God would never get in the way. "What did I- -in Eden- -say? I'm okay going, I want to meet your family but it's the holidays and people usually don't like it when others intrude and--" He growls. "--the last thing I want to do is annoy your family. I want them to like me, ya' know."
Jazz huffs, "Papa likes you, which means it's probably physically impossible for anyone to hate you."
"Jasper..." Castor shakes his head. "Plenty of people hate me, it's- -mother ducklings- -entirely possible."
"Not for this!" He promises. "You'll be welcomed with open arms, scout's honor."
He wasn't even in the scouts, but it still counts.
Vivianna snorts, "More like 'puppy' honor."
The musician pouts, throwing his best friend a 'why do you do this to me?' face.
Castor grabs his jaw and squishes his cheeks together, almost making Jazz protest before the god kissed his lips, "I'll go, if you call your parents and make sure it's actually okay."
"My mama told me to bring you," Jazz informed a little sheepishly. "And Papa said if I don't it means you're 'a fucking coward.' Which is, is his way of saying he wants you there!"
"Convincing." The celestial scoffed then paused and gave him a look. "Can I actually talk to your dad?"
Um... there's multiple ways that could go wrong.
"Why?"
"To ask him to go to prom with me," Castor sarcastically answer. "Nah. But really, can I talk to him? If--"
"No more of this blubbering ignorance, you eggs!" Viv suddenly throws a phone-- his own phone, Jazz realizes-- at his boyfriend's head, his papa's contact name already flashing on the screen. The fuck? "When he threw me, I called him to snitch." Why didn't she just use her own phone, then? "Sorry not sorry. Apparently he wants to talk to you too."
Raising an eyebrow, Castor holds Jazz's jaw with one hand and answers with the other, letting the musician stare at him as he does so.
He heard his father's voice just barely, but he could see the soft pink swirls of his voice, amused, as they came through the speaker and broke against Castor's voice as the god replied, "Yeah. It's almost that time of year. Two months away -two, two, two- -I'm wearing black. How about you."
Ah, right, prom.
Not gonna happen but if it would, at least his boyfriend and dad would match.
Smirking, the celestial eyes the musician, making Jazz blush, "I'd say so."
Yeah, he thought, and I'd say you're trying to make my heart explode.
Castor snorts at something his papa said, squeezes his waist as he pouted further, not all to happy about not being able to hear the conversation or make anything from it besides being able to read his boyfriend's green song.
"I doubt that, you'd threaten me if you needed to." The celestial said. "What did you want?"
What does he want? And why would Bar threaten Castor? So far, from what his Goddess mama told him, Jazz knew his papa liked his boyfriend and was happy he had someone to be happy with him.
After his papa was talking awhile, then the soft blue came through the speakers as he mama probably was talking to her husband-- as her voice was too quiet to hear at all, Castor gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead.
Which, honestly, he really liked but he still wanted more attention.
Ah, shit, he realizes. I'm turning into an attention-whore.
"Yeah. It's um...I'm making it?" Castor answers something, an almost sheepish half-smile taking over his face. "It's just, with Tourette's, taking longer than normal?"
Making what?
And why can't Jazz know about it?
"You guys being so rich made it hard." The celestial jokes and Jazz almost whines with a pout-- making him poke his cheek-- not liking that he might have made it seem like just because he's rich, he wouldn't appreciate anything that his god would get him because that is so not true. He loves everything he gets, especially the small things. He could get a single sticker and be like, cool beans!
"No, it's fine," Castor made a face, song going a little chartreuse with annoyance and sour with hurt. What were they even talking about? "I can get a ride."
HIs goddess mama says something, her blue a little unsure in it's reply but Castor only took a second to think before he nodded and said, "Yeah, don't worry about it. Oh, by the way -you're the one that likes oranges the most, right?" She said something again, causing the celestial to answer back a little unsure. "...not really?"
A sharp yellow swirl shot from the phone with a quiet beep, letting Jazz know that one of his parents-- probably his papa, as his goddess mama was way too nice for that-- hung up on his boyfriend.
Castor, however, seemed unbothered by that and just cupped Jazz's face, smirking as he told him. "We're going to have a lot of fun on that island of yours."
And there goes his thoughts, right into the fucking gutter.
"What kind?" The musician flushes.
"Hmm." His star leans in, soft fingers trailing over his lips, lightly pressing down on the bottom one and making Jazz swallow. "Whatever kind you want."
Probably seeing how red her best friend looked, Vivianna started to laugh quite loudly, but he didn't say anything about that or the thoughts in his head.
But... maybe he should?
One day, he will. Maybe. Probably.
He wants to be comfortable with Castor that way-- but he's not ready yet.
Jazz finds peace in the knowledge that even though he's not ready, his boyfriend will still wait for him to be.
He was happy that the god chose him, a lot happier than he has been in awhile.