—*✧･ﾟs l e e p y ･ﾟ✧*—

“Daemon? Are you calling your father a demon? I don’t know if that is gonna bode well with us at the next Thanksgiving get together. I think the worst thing I’ve ever called my mom is … mother in a rude tone.” He frowned a little. But the frown was only there for a moment before it switched into a big smile. “We’re gonna need a big car. I’m thinking one of those hippy-dippy vans that come with the pot already stashed in the glove compartment.”

“I’ve always wanted a sugar daddy. So sweet.” He kissed Z on the cheek and then began planting smaller, quicker ones on his neck. As they sat together and Wally started to play the movie, he shrugged. “With magic I can make myself look as fit and as young as any nineteen year old in Miami.”

◘ | “Daemon, not demon. It’s the term for a personified spirit, which my father is apparently classified as in addition to, or instead of, a god. If it sounds convoluted to you, imagine someone who barely understood Judaism and Christianity trying to piece those things together,” he said dejectedly. It was still hard, at times, to wrap his head around this world that he was part of. There was so much to learn and it wasn’t as if his father would sit him down and teach him all about it. He’d spent years specifically avoiding having contact with Z. Why would he start now? “We’re absolutely not getting a van. No negotiation needed on that decision.” He shook his head.

Wally scoffed and looked at Z like he was nuts. “More cars? More cars?” An eyebrow rose - and with it, his lips. His smile was sweet and his eyes crinkled with humor. “I don’t even have one car a-and you want more? Well, by all means run my bank account into the ground. Yes, let’s let the demigod who didn’t finish high school or college have dreams of multiple vehicles, of owning them.” Wally shook his head in faked distress. “Sometimes I don’t know about you, Goldsbourne.”

He book the man’s hand and stood up, walking with him out to the living room as the cats played with the discarded lump. “I guess we’ll have to rely on my sweet doctor-boyfriend to provide for me.” Wally went to the couch and snapped his fingers. Any food or drink that wasn’t already over at the table was now on it’s way via-floating. “You know I think you’d made a great dad.”

◘ | “I am the child of the daemon of sleep, Wally. It would be blasphemous of me not to let you dream,” Z murmured softly as he let his eyes linger at his boyfriend’s lips. There was nothing more beautiful than his partner’s smile. He truly was the beacon of light that shines down on his otherwise gloomy life and he would probably never truly grasp how much that meant to Z. He’d never really know what an amazing gift he was, and yet...Z would spend an eternity trying to show him. “And we’ll need one eventually, anyway, unless you plan on never going on vacations with me. Which, by the way, is robbing yourself of getting to enjoy my amazing road trip playlists. A true tragedy.”

Wally felt his throat close up before Z spoke. Nerves has tangled themselves up in his stomach. The thought of kids was terrifying. Wally was still clueless on so many things about being an adult. Some of which was his fault, but Wally also never had been forced to do a lot of adult things. Paying rent and surviving war was about as adult as it got for him. But a mortgage? 

And what about parent teacher conferences? Would they school the kids here or in some normal human town? Where would they get the kids? Maybe they could entice Hera with an offer to get them the best one. The more he thought about in those few seconds it all seemed disastrous. 

Wally’s face remained pressed. It didn’t grow calmer until Z was finished talking and Wally could process it all. “N-” he tried to speak but found that he couldn’t. Putting his fingers to his neck, his eyes bulged and he realized that his stress had materialized. He snapped his fingers and teleported the tiny object blocking his way. “Lump in my throat,” he said, holding something that looked almost like a tongue. Wally threw it off to the side to be forgotten. “I never really thought about having kids. I mean, we talked about it. I just … it seemed like so far off when we were in the lake. I would like kids, I think. Maybe if we get one when it’s like seventeen so we only have to take care of it for like a year?” Wally smiled at that and kissed Z on the cheek. “I do wanna talk more about it, but later on. Maybe send me an e-mail two days before so I can prepare.”

◘ | No stranger to anxieties himself, Z didn’t miss the momentary panic that seemed to express itself on Wally’s face. He felt himself harden at the thought of the situation escalating at all, whether for the good or for the bad. His comment was something made out of fleeting thought, one with a weight his tongue hadn’t considered until after it had already leaped from his palette. Whatever Wally would say would only leave the topic in the air for longer than Z had ever wanted it to be there.

◘ | When Wally threw, what looked to be, a tongue off of the bed behind him, Elwood darted off of Z and the man followed the motion with a tilt of his head. His attention was snapped back to his boyfriend as the blond began to speak and, like before, he steeled himself after the momentarily fondness of watching their cat be a cat. Just as he’d feared, it seemed that some things were better left in a specific time and place. Their talk under the lake had been one made out of hope for a future that wasn’t guaranteed. Now that they lived in that future, perhaps things were different. Not better or worse, just different.

“I can just come up with other words,” he whispered to himself. Wally was idly flicking through the movie options, watching the bloopers of the movie but not paying attention. He perked up when Z said something about kids. “What?” It took him a moment to put together what he said, and it made Wally nervous. “Our kids? Like, we have little rug rats?” He got up and moved over to the room, but Z was already changing topics. 

Wally stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, eyeing the floor and shrugging his shoulders. “Uh, I think we have some.” Z’s comment had clearly thrown him off, since he was just eating a can of peaches. “What do you mean kids, Z?” He sat down on the bed and put a hand on the man’s knee. “You’d really want kids someday? You don’t think that’s too fast for us?”

◘ | Z’s fingers were being nibbled by tiny, yet lethal fangs, yet he didn’t seem fazed much by it. Instead, he tried to wrap his head around how he could go about fixing the words that had only recently left him. It was true that he had been in a far more “paternal” mood than he had ever been in. There were several children who needed guidance during the war. Z had been there to offer his hand to them and at some point, he’d allowed himself to drift into whimsy where the nurturing he offered would be to his own children. Wally’s existence beside him had seemed customary. There wasn’t a point in his life that he saw himself without the blond.

Piper was a big believer in doing what was right, even if that meant sacrificing her own needs and wants for the good of others. She wasn’t selfish nor vain, despite those being some “typical” traits for a child of Aphrodite. She was, in fact, very reasonable, forgoing any sense of vanity in favor of helping those that needed help the most. She ignored her appearance most of the time. Usually, she didn’t notice it; didn’t notice that even without doing anything, she still looked beautiful. But this didn’t mean that she didn’t have her faults.

Her faults, it could be noted, were that when she was tired, she was tired. The usual good traits she had were ignored. She wanted sleep, so she usually got sleep. But now, she found herself favoring the idea of going out to help rather than sleeping. Sleep did nothing for the good of others. It just helped herself. And she didn’t really need the sleep, anyway. There was time for that later.

Finding Z sitting opposite of her was calming as much as it was a pleasure. She hadn’t meant to get so absorbed in her own world and exhaustion. She’d only meant to complain just for a moment. One, golden moment. Now, though, she felt guilty about what she had said, and followed the man’s gaze as it went to the clock on the cafe wall.

“You’re right,” she said. “Sleep would be fantastic, but it’s true that everyone does seem a little on edge. Can’t really say I wouldn’t be the same, though, if I wasn’t so tired.” Tired of the fighting, the war, but also, just from the lack of sleep. “Also, please don’t yawn. I wouldn’t want that to happen.” She was laughing a bit now, not because she thought it was funny, but because she was nervous. Nervous laughter usually escalated when one was tired, just as she was now.

Her laughter dying, the young demigod rubbed the back of her neck, sparing Z yet another glance before she then took a sip of her coffee. It was always nice to be in his company, regardless if they had spoken much or not. She liked him. 

“Oh! Oh, no. I’m not. Well, I want to be, but I haven’t really started helping… yet. I’ve been busy with projects and such. Still, I was hoping to do that today, incase anyone needed me. Hopefully I can help with the clean-up group. How about you? What are you doing?”

◘ | It was in moments like these that Z was reminded how his life experiences seemingly existed on either ends of some cosmic, polarized tightrope. The above had been the mortal realm. Things like gods and monsters were mere personifications of those in positions of political and economic power, which happened to be two of the only types of power a human being could possibly wield. They were individuals who would use their influence to destroy the lives of others or be worshiped by the commoners of the world, desperate to bask in their light with superficial, and mostly unrelenting, fervor. War existed, but it was for those who enlisted. It so rarely was ever brought to the streets of the average man.

◘ | This world was different. Monsters had sharp teeth and gods were tangible, albeit absent overseers of the havoc their descendants could wreak with power that existed in ways not conventional to mortals. Power surged through the veins like blood, washing away over tides in the sea or calling lightning from the sky. It made the ground quake and jewels rise to the surface. Words became unforgettable to a naturally heightened mind. The blade was wielded with a proficiency even trained knights might have envied. Tongues were enchanted to force others to do their bidding. Power was boundless, mutated, and unrefined.

◘ | And the wars here...walked straight up to your doorstep.

◘ | Z was no stranger to feeling unsafe surrounded by people who weren’t like him, but that sort of experience didn’t shield him from the pain of being cast out and vilified by those that were his kind. He’d spent months living life as if a thick haze had blanketed itself over him, fogging everything that was just beginning to be clear in his mind’s eye. It felt like a dream that he would never wake from. It was a vicious night terror.

◘ | Only, coming back into this world didn’t feel much like waking up. It felt like shifting in the dream to gain a bit of control. Semi-lucid. It was a sensation that, not for the first time in his life, felt entirely foreign. Here he was sitting and grabbing coffee with another Greek demigod while on Roman land. He had the ability to decide to come here, sure, but it still felt like something else was guiding the narrative. Like he needed to look over his shoulder lest the nightmare come yet again. 

◘ | “I’ll try my hardest not to,” he replied, focusing his attention to the warmth radiating from his drink. It seeped through the skin and sent waves of ease up his spine. “...but I’d recommend carrying a pillow or something soft with you at all times just in case. I’m not the only child of Hypnos and if they’re half as sleep deprived as me, nap time won’t just be a nursery school activity.” He was far too tired to offer anything more than the soft, breathy half chuckle after speaking.

“Usually alone time means I impale you with,” he stopped and motioned to his crotch. “But this kind of alone time is just as good.” Despite the war, Wally tried to normalize their lives by keeping them up to date on all things comic book. They were aware of the Marvel movies coming out, the DC ones too. The kittens seemed to come out of nowhere a moment later. The two darlings rubbed against Z to tell him hello. “The couple kids have been feeding them and are so good with the cats.” Wally nodded at Z’s offer. “I’ll get us some blankets too. Do you want anything to eat, Z?”  

Wally moved to the TV and got the movie ready. Through some finagling with a few kids of Hephaestus, they were able to get TV access and internet access back quicker than some others. Wally reasoned that it would provide moral for those they were housing for the time being. He picked out blankets from the closet and summoned a few extra pillows. Wally always wondered the objects he summoned came from. Was there a pillow factory that suddenly just lost two pillows? 

◘ | Eyelashes fluttered as Z blinked furiously to try and steady his hazy vision from his eyes losing focus at Wally’s wording. “Please never use the word impale again to describe our sex life,” he managed to say without stuttering. The tips of his ears had gotten noticeably more pink as did his cheeks and neck. It was a vicious flush that didn’t go away for the majority of the time that he spent fixing up their bed. When Elwood and Marble entered the room, he simply scooped them both up and set them atop the sheets he was curling around the mattress. “They’ve really taken a shine to our guests. I hope they’ll do the same to our children.” The words were out before Z could stop them. All he could do was stop and stare at the cats, both of whom were gazing back at him seemingly unaware of the weight of his words.

Connor let out a laugh and grinned. “That was not my intention, but now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind that.” He hadn’t flirted for a while and he was just enjoying the act of doing so. “I’ve been told snuggling is simply a gateway action. All it does is lead to other things.” 

“Well, you keep Wally from getting himself in any real trouble and believe me that is quite the feat.” Percy dipped his head appreciatively to Z. “And you’ve been such a help, it felt like flattery was the least that I could do.” Percy wasn’t quite sure how he had escalated the situation to that point. The son of Vulcan obviously was having a very bad day. “I’ve got to be honest, the attraction of wearing blue overalls all day, everyday holds a certain appeal that I find almost irresistible.” He laughed and moved onto his next task, nothing quite so trying as rewiring a socket. Painting the surrounding wall would just take time. “How are you finding the rebuild?” 

“Can I just start telling you my romantic affairs and you can write some Romance novels out of them? Because I would read books more often if you wrote them like that. And I have a number of them…” His cheeks hurt from smiling, and he thanked Z for being so kind. “I just love mushy stuff, cheesy stuff, I like being told that I’m… I guess thought of? You know? One of my love languages. Grand gestures of affection. Effort I guess. How did you meet your guy? Does he bring you flowers? I want to know so much.”

Aidan wiggled his eyebrows, and snorted at himself since Z couldn’t see him from his hiding place in the closet. “Why do you say that? Of course I can live up to them, I could pull up some yelp reviews if it’d help my case.” He joked. “Although… I guess the few dudes have been all… mostly virgins… But still.” 

◘ | Aidan’s praise had far more meaning than he probably knew. An adolescent Z would’ve taken the massive boost to the ego. He had once aspired to be the most noteworthy Drarry fanfiction writer. The angst of it all made him cringe now, however. “Try as I might, I’ll never make anything as beautiful as The Song of Achilles,” he murmured. It was strange to think about how that story had truth to it in ways that the mortal world wouldn’t understand. Z also wondered if perhaps Madeline Miller was,herself, a demigod or a legacy. “Words of affirmation is certainly a love language. I prefer acts of service. Praise is nice, but to offer help is where I feel my love blossoms.” He’d gotten awfully flowery with his words, pun fully intended. “We met in a library in N-Y-C three years ago. Wally was the first person I’d ever met who had abilities of any kind other than myself. He never told me about this world; it was because he’d lived with me that the monsters were even able to find me at all. I’m not sure I would’ve survived out there on my own, though.” At one point, he’d blamed Wally for it all. Back before he had forgiven the man, when he believed Wally had brought about his undoing and then fled when he realized he couldn’t protect both Z. Now, he knew better. Wally didn’t know his presence would bring such misfortune to an already desolate soul. “He does bring me flowers, yes, and so many other little trinkets he makes or finds out in shops. I had rows of forget-me-nots lining our apartment before we had to flee. I’m sure he’s only going to take our return as a chance to cover every surface with new ones.”

“Well, with your help I feel like my resume is only going to get longer. I now know that I can rewire a socket without getting shouted at by a child of Vulcan, that is certainly always refreshing.” He smiled simply at Z, enjoying their conversation. “I’ve always been handy,” Percy replied with a bright laugh, “but being the handyman for the whole of New Rome is a lot of pressure.”

As far as sleepless nights went, the one Piper had just had was quite disastrous. She hadn’t meant to stay up the entire night, but with so much to do and so little time to do it now that the war was over, there hadn’t been anything else she really could do. She wanted to do everything and anything in a matter of days. So, she had spent the night working on various projects, trying to finish them despite the exhaustion that tore at her.

And now, at the crack of dawn, she was awake. However, despite her fatigued state, she looked as if she had slept a good ten hours: her eyes were bright, her cheeks were flushed and her hair was in perfect condition. Overall, she was the image of someone who had gotten a good night of sleep. 

It was a few hours after she had woken up that she decided to get some coffee. Sat in the cafe nearest to her apartment, she cradled a warm cup of coffee in her hands and looked to the person sitting right across from her. Then, with a huff of annoyance, she said, “Please tell me the day’s already over and I can go back to sleep. I know there’s work to be done and all, and really, I’ll help as much as I can. But sleep sounds like the perfect answer to everyone’s problems right now.”

◘ | Since inviting people into their apartment to live until housing structures could be rebuilt, Z and Wally were no strangers to a restless night. Though, for the former, foregoing slumber was the determining factor for his success in medical school. The addition of more voices at night and the dread of the after-effects of the war being another one breaching over the horizon just happened to be the modern day’s equivalent to binge-studying. It would simply take a little while to get used to. Until that time arose, he’d have to rely on a healthy layer of concealer to stop himself from looking like a raccoon.

◘ | Piper seemed to be fairing far better than he at night, at least on the surface. She didn’t seem to have anything caked under those beautiful brown eyes and Z felt a ping of envy for whatever was keeping her so youthful when their apartment complex was overloaded with people who loved talking in the middle of the night. The doctor had really taken for granted how nice a night’s rest really was for the complexion and also his peace of mind. He wasn’t nearly tired enough to be considered snippy, but each waking moment felt like a disservice to his once passionate self. He could barely muster up a smile.

It seemed Nico had returned to New Rome at the absolute worst possible time. The son of Hades was never one to stick around at either camp for very long; he could never really shake feeling like he was out of place, an outsider, despite his father’s reprisal of his throne on Olympus many years ago. He spent some time traveling the world, even perused the Underworld for a while, but eventually he felt it was time to return to his friends.

Big mistake.

Death’s presence was palpable once he made his return. A quick scan of a newspaper would tell him all he needed to know–war had made its return to New Rome, and with war came death. As he walked the cobblestone paths through the city, he couldn’t help but feel weighed down by it, boots dragging against the ground as he trudged along to an unknown destination. Eventually, he found himself creeping up on the lake, deciding to take a bit of a breather on the bank. With a heavy sigh, he sat himself against a tree and brought his knees up to his chest, absentmindedly fiddling with his skull ring.

“I gotta learn to stop disappearing.”

◘ | The war had all but ended on a surface level. People were no longer being struck down in the street, nor were there any raids for information or precious resources being held. It made traversing through New Rome feel much more like it had before things turned for the worse. Though, it would never quite have the same wonder for Z that it held once upon a time. He had hated New Rome at first. It was so much smaller and confined than the outside world that he’d spent nearly thirty years in without a single supernatural creature attacking him. Then, that changed and he was placed here where everything was topsy-turvy and nothing made sense. It took him quite some time to grow to no longer harbor any hatred for this world; even longer still was the decision to think of it as a place to discover and eventually fall in love with.

◘ | Now, however, New Rome felt like another place he simply did not belong in. It was overwhelming to put on a brave face and pretend like things could ever be close to the way they used to be. Z couldn’t erase the hatred in the eyes of those that fought. Many of them still wandered about now, offering half-hearted waves and smiles as if blood weren’t on their hands and not in the same way that it had coated Z’s. It wasn’t easy to forget the amount of people that died in his arms.

Annabeth was tired and a little annoyed that the rebuilding efforts were not going as fast or efficiently as she had hoped, and was currently occupying a whole table at the library, various books and a stack of plans scattered around. She’d been looking over them hoping to find a way to make things easier for everyone, but perhaps it was the exhaustion from the past weeks catching up to her, and it felt as though she had a mental block.

A dozen curses coming out of her mouth under her breath, she shut her laptop and let her head fall onto the table, half contemplating throwing an immature tantrum, half wondering if she should try getting some sleep first ( though that was a whole different set of problems ).

◘ | Being reintegrated into the hospital environment of New Rome had taken a bit of adjustment. Z had left the place of work within the neurology department, but had spent so much time administering general medicine and surgery during the war that his legs would often carry him to patients that were not in his specified field. His coworkers had thought of it as endearing at first. His superiors didn’t. Their views on the matter soon became a general consensus, which left Z feeling particularly peeved with his own habits. He would simply have to spend time regrowing his place in the city if he wanted to avoid stepping on anymore toes.

◘ | The library had become a place of comfort since his arrival in this new world. He had read so many books from cover to cover, exploring the intricate details of this land that existed in a layer shadowing the mortal one he inhabited for far longer than the statistics would’ve begged for. The pages had become a sanctuary and this place turned into a second home. Perhaps getting reacquainted here would help him in his occupational efforts.

“Wait, what? Spider-Man?” Wally rolled his eyes and sighed, slouching down and lowering his arms, covering his chest with a half-put on shirt. “Are we watching it alone or with everyone?” Wally shrugged his shirt back on and moved over to the fridge. They only had non-perishables at the moment, some of which had been stocked in the refrigerator and pulled out a can of peaches. “I guess I just thought you wanted something more … R-rated for tonight.” Wally cracked the can open and grabbed a fork off the counter. He kissed Z’s cheek. “Wanna help make the bed?”

The young man grinned, thrilled that Z was planning on something more physical for them tonight. Playing host to homeless demigods was nice and he was happy to do it; but having people in your house who you don’t know really is like turning the hose on a roaring fire. Wally kissed back for a short second and laughed. “Yours if you want it. You can tell Bernice tomorrow that it’s your only proof that tonight happened, because I, Wally Robinson, will surely be gone.” He tried to think on his feet of a way to jokingly say he’d be dead. It was tough, with how many of their fellow Greeks and Romans had just died. Aside from magic, he wasn’t always the best orator, unlike Z.

@onciroi

“You’re home early.” Wally looked at the man in the doorway and grinned. “It’s just us for now, but I think the Ares twins will be back soon.” For the past week, since fixing up their own apartment and saving what they could, the couple had been letting anyone who was still without somewhere to sleep use their home. All over the living room floor were sleeping bags. The couch had been claimed. It was about seven people staying with them. “You know, this is how it felt at Camp Half-Blood, before Percy came along. Mom didn’t have her own cabin, so I had to room with the Hermes kids.”

His last grand romantic schemes had not quite gone so well. Aidan winced, remembering how he had accidentally set fire to more than one curtain trying to get a nice candle set up. “I don’t have a lot of luck with those. Usually it ends up blowing back in my face. Besides, I like a man who will reciprocate that romance, you know? My ex was a little lazy in that department. I made dinner reservations, would buy flowers… I just want a guy to bring me flowers this time. Maybe we end up getting each others’ favorite flowers. Maybe he puts one behind my ear and then I get swept up and carried off into the sunset. In the Caribbean, where we live out our days by the beach.” 

Aidan enjoyed hearing Z laugh. He felt as if a lot of people around him were very gloomy at the moment. He could feel the butterflies in his stomach from Z’s story, meeting someone who utterly changes your world. Face turning red, Aidan snorted. “Well I’d definitely hope so. My man better be prepared because you know us Venus kids can show up in those departments.” He grinned.

◘ | These were sentiments that were completely unrelatable to Z. As someone who had, for most of his life, associated romance solely with the dealings of the flesh, he hadn’t ever known the rejection or lack of effort from a partner. He liked to imagine what life would’ve been like if he had been shown love in ways separate from in the bedroom, if he could associate his salacious trysts with love at all. “That does sound very romantic,” he agreed, eyes finding themselves pointing upward at nothing in particular. It wasn’t like he could see anything. “I’ve always had a thing for Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity, so I’m just picturing two people hopelessly in love rolling around in the waves on the beach, kissing each other with more passion than could fill the ocean.” He sighed. “You’re turning me to mush today, Aidan.”