"He has no need for faith who knows the uncreated, who has cut off rebirth, who has destroyed any opportunity for good or evil, and cast away all desire. He is indeed the ultimate man."
-Gautama Buddha
I'm so sorry guys that it's been a freaking month since I updated. Cherish, my sister who writes the other side of this story, got a lot of chapters popped out and it overwhelmed me because I was trying to stay caught up on other things, too. So it's my fault and I'm sorry. Honestly, you shouldn't have to wait this long :((
chapter 35 pt. 1
Christmas in the Red family has always been a rather humorous affair.
None of them-- a single one-- believed in the Christian God, for one, and for another their mama was a Pagan and the real celebration was Yule, the winter solstice, which they all participated in but only got really together on the twenty-fifth.
Even if none believed in the religion, they all still liked giving gifts to their loved ones.
And having gone off to his own university and with both his sisters in college and his family busy with their own life, this is the first time in a year or so he's gotten to be with all of them.
Plus he'd fully get to show off Castor to them.
So he was excited.
The god didn't share the excitement--never having really had a big Christmas growing up or one that was too important-- but that was okay, he was being all happy and energetic enough for the both of them.
It was early in the morning when Jazz dragged his god out of bed and happily made his way to his parent's cabin, Castor a baby bit grumpy because he didn't have the chance to get coffee but other than that it was an easy day so far.
Nyx and Damien were already there, softly talking to each other in the corner while Eris and Arabella laughed and played cards in the middle of the living room floor-- all four giving them a greeting.
Dela, since she was dating Lavender, spent Christmas with the Riddles and for a brief moment the musician wondered if her and Flynn got along well. Both were rather hyper in the morning.
Not his kind of smiley hyper but hyper-hyper where they talked non-stop and bounced all over the place.
Maybe his goddess mama had too much sugar when she was pregnant with him and his twin, because their older sisters surely aren't as excitable as them. Eh, probably. Clementine did have a sweet tooth.
Speaking of having a sweet tooth, his mama was making cookies, his papa-- being really, really bad at baking-- stayed out of her way but remained talking with her in the kitchen. They were always in sync, always two parts of the same whole, so it didn't shock Jazz at all when Castor noticed that, too.
Since he was a baker at heart, the god stayed in the kitchen a bit while the musician went to go bother his sister in the living room. It wasn't too long, though, that his boyfriend making his way towards him again, though.
"Jitterbug, where's the--" There's a deep grow and it makes him jump. "--cups?"
With wide eyes, Jazz turns to look at the celestial. His greens are a little darker, something stirring at the sides that he never saw before. Strange.
Ah, right, cups.
"Did Papa refuse to tell you?" Asking this, he remembers the hard time Bar gave Damien whenever the other grump would try to get something for himself as a newbie as 'it's the nice fucking thing to do' to make sure guests are taken care of.
"Oh, um, no." He shakes his head, thick hair sticking up all over the place. "I didn't ask them."
Raising an eyebrow in question only gets a shrug in reply, so Jazz gets off of the couch he was sitting on and leads the star back into the kitchen, showing him where the mugs were kept before grabbing the creamer out of the fridge.
He doesn't see how it happened-- there's too many different songs and noises around the place-- but he knows that his papa's elbow and his boyfriend's face just got a very crude, accidental meeting and then Castor's falling to the floor with a bloody nose.
Jazz lunges forward, trying to steady his feet and his arms luckily catch the god around the waist, holding them in an awkward position right above the ground. He was thankful that he caught him, he knew how a fall like that felt and it certainly wasn't a good feeling.
Besides, the last thing his star needed was a bloody nose and a concussion
Dark, lightning-strike eyes just stare in a daze, a grimace on his face as pain leaks into his song.
Why is it always Castor's nose that gets hurt?
"Oh fuck," Bar gasped out, throwing the bag of flour-- that he was previously trying to get down from the cupboard when the accident happened-- onto the counter as he crouched down near his son and the bleeding celestial. "I'm so sorry. I didn't, I didn't mean to. Fuck, are you okay?"
Jazz's papa was a sensitive man with a huge heart, he knows that due to his own past and trauma that the last thing his papa would ever want to do is hurt a kid, let alone a kid he now considers his own.
This probably makes him more upset that he's letting on.
"I'm-- nose, nose, nose-- fine," Castor's voice was muffled and grumbled out, eyes squinting up at Bar and the musician, who quickly grabs a clean cloth and hands it to the god. "Wouldn't be a real Christmas--" He growls. "--without a broken nose."
That's... kinda not okay.
Clementine instantly takes to fusing, calling Viv to bring Ahmik over with the emergency medical bag they all keep for situations like this (someone can never be too prepared) and Jazz helped the star clean his nose until he was just sitting on the kitchen floor, mama and papa hovering slightly as his siblings and their partners stayed in the living room.
"I really am sorry," Bar was frowning, that dark worry in his eyes shining through and his goddess mama took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I... I would never-- I didn't mean to."
Although he looked like his mama, and although his papa typically put on this rough exterior towards anyone that hadn't managed to wiggle their way into his heart, he was the one that Jazz inherited the panic and emotional brain from.
So, when his papa's eyes got shiner, bottom lip going into a frown as his shoulders hiked up-- something the musician does too-- he knows he's going to cry.
It was obvious to Jazz, and to his goddess mama too.
But, despite not knowing how, the god could tell as well.
Castor squinted up at him, the light tinge of blood still against his face, as winced, "Please don't cry. I'm-- Christmas lights-- okay, really."
That only seemed to make his papa cry faster, and he held his hand over his eyes, "I have to go. Babygirl, can you--"
"Little Viv's boyfriend is already on his way over, Oly," His mama murmured, already pulling him to the side to take their leave. "Let's g-go calm you down, yeah?"
He nods in return, and just like that Jazz's parents are off to most likely the balcony in their room and the musician turns back to the jaw-clenched, glaring at the ground god.
"My star?" Jazz shuffles closer, now right in front of the celestial. "Why are you upset? The broken nose? My p-papa really didn't mean to do that."
"The broken nose--in Eden-- doesn't bother me," Castor says, then squeaks twice, hands clapping in a tic. "I just don't like that I made your father cry."
Strange, shouldn't the one with the broken nose be crying?
"He'll be okay. He just... has a sensitive heart, y'know? Always worrying, even if he acts tough. Like, his favorite thing in the world is gummy bears and he's a sucker for cuddles. He's a great dad, and he's never once raised a hand towards any of us and since he considers you one of his own now, it just upset him because he never wanted to be responsible for the pain of one of his own."
"I'm..." The god blinked slowly, lightning-strike gray eyes a little confused. "One of your own?"
"Of course," Jazz laughs, bumping their knees together. "All of my siblings count you as one of their own-- even Viv, though I think you knew that. They don't know you all that well, but they know you're a good person and for my entire family, good people are easy to love and to be considered part of us."
Castor doesn't reply for a few moments, but when he does his song has cooled into a calm green and he gives a soft smile, "Show me--" He squeaks. "--what Christmas in your family looks like then."
It's the god's smile that makes heat pool into his chest, affection blooming in the space between his lungs and taking hold of his breath. He likes his smile, even when he knows that his star doesn't.
"First," Jazz says, shrugging himself out of his sweater as he speaks and hands it to him. "Let's get you out of this shirt."
Rolling his eyes, Castor takes his shirt off.
The musician eyes his body, taking note of the now prominent scars and not liking the fact that he was hurt but feeling proud that he survived through it all. Pulling the god closer to himself, he kisses one of the scars on his shoulder, thinking about what made the two-pronged scars on his chest as he traces them with his thumb.
It... it looks like something electrocuted him.
Humming in thought, Jazz taps it twice as he asks. "What is this from?"
"Taser," The answer forms rage onto Jazz's tongue and he swallows it down until it burns his whole chest. "Normally, it wouldn't be that bad, it's just what happens when it's too close to the body."
That's-- that's not okay
Now that he thinks about it, his Papa has a couple scars like that. He got them from his father, an asshole cop who abused him his whole childhood--until his goddess mama helped save him.
As for asshole cops, the celestial has one in his own family.
So, hoping he wasn't pressing any boundaries, Jazz softly asks, "Jonah?"
Pausing from where he was putting on his sweater, Castor flinches slightly and freezes. His expression and song go all jittery, not really scared but more of a surprised worry, like he forgot that his boyfriend even knew about his abusive uncle.
"Yeah," This is said with a clenched jaw and three odd jerks of his shoulders. "It's all healed though. But c'mon Jitterbug, I want you to see your present already. Your dad likes it." At this, and because he knew that the god was trying to change the topic, Jazz perks up and Castor laughs in return. "You act like-" He squeaks adorably. "-he's entirely hard to impress."
"He is." He answers honestly, pulling their bodies together, "Newbies get to go first, and we actually haven't had one in a while." Last was when Nyx finally agreed to ask Damien to join them two years ago, but by then he had already been so immersed into their family that it didn't change much. "Sorry if they make a big deal out of it, both on your gifts and the ones they give you."
"Why did they get me stuff?" Castor has the audacity to wrinkle his nose at the musician. "The only-- stuff, stuff, stuff-- thing they know about me is that I like strawberries."
"It's Christmas, Castor," Jazz deadpans. "Of course they were going to get you stuff. If it makes this better, I bet the D'Silvetta's are having the time of their lives with Ahmik."
Vivianna was surely doing her best to annoy her boyfriend every chance she got. Their dynamic was like that, annoying each other under the pretense of love-- even though both of them found the other funny instead of frustrating.
"Oh, we are?" Axel's smug voice joins their conversation and Jazz looks up at him enough to see his shit eating grin. The dweeb. "Merry Christmas, Cutie," He winks at him making his eyes roll but then he turns to Castor and says, "From Vivianna and Ahmik, and Dad."
Not saying anything more, the stupid D'Silvetta hands a rather large, blobbish looking gift, an equally poorly wrapped one, and then an actually nice one to the god. Jazz would bet anything that the nicely wrapped one is from Ahmik because Viv and Tio Gus got too excited while wrapping and could never make them look nice.
But then he remembers Castor's wrist and takes the presents from him with a single hand. "Is your wrist okay?"
"It weighs like two pounds." Sighing, he shows him the bandages. "No blood. Little pain."
Snarky god.
Jazz pouts, "I didn't know you were still in pain."
"I used a glass lamp as an oversized acupuncture needle," Castor reminds him-- the memory almost makes him flinch. It's not something he wants to experience again, but probably will. "That's probably going to leave me aching for a while."
Axel's laugh gets muffled by his hands but it's enough to make the anger pour into Jazz's chest again and he glares at the idiot, his heart pounding unceremoniously in protest how they're joking about the celestial's pain.
"I'm sorry, he's funny!" The stupid D'Silvetta wheezes. "Seriously Jazz, I'm not laughing at his pain. I'm even here to give gifts! See, I'm nice."
Nice. Sure. Nice and a fucking idiot.
Shrugging, Castor adds, "At least someone gets my humor, even if it's him."
"You're not funny." Pouting at the star, Jazz lies. His boyfriend is funny-- just this wasn't.
"Thanks." He dryly replies, though the musician knew he wasn't really insulted. His song told him he honestly couldn't care less.
"Welcome, and my star?" Jazz leaned down to butt their heads together. "Please be careful."
"I'll be as careful as I can be, and still have fun."
"Then you can't complain about me being clumsy, Castor. It's the same level of not being careful."
The god shakes his head, letting out a small chuckle as he does so, "Me being a reckless adrenaline-rush junkie is absolutely not on the same level-- same, same, same-- as you just tripping over yourself like you're a puppy whose paws are too big for your body."
Jazz pouts, but can't argue. It's true after all.