Dusk

I sat on my computer chair more immobile than atoms at absolute zero, uncharacteristically holding my back in the position of perfect posture, and I grinned as I felt his presence behind me, felt his hungry mouth close over the back of my neck as if I was some sort of quarry that one of those large felines had claimed in a nature show. However, I had already decided to tease him today for giving me a crappy excuse for missing our very important lunch date, so I kept typing away and staring at my console's monitor, making a big show of pretending that my briefs were not unbearably tight, that my neck was not undergoing a wholesale ravaging that destroyed any coherent thought I might have-

Introduction

Hyacinthus was a beautiful Spartan youth who caught the attention and love of Phoebus: Apollo, the bright sun god. Apollo and Hyacinthus spent their time hunting, playing, and being greatly in love.
Some say it was Boreas, the cold, shaggy and brutish North Wind, and others say that it was Zephyrus, the beautiful and usually gentle West Wind, but at any rate Hyacinthus was soon caught in an argument between Apollo and one of the two aforementioned wind gods. Forced to choose, Hyacinthus readily decided that it was Apollo whom he loved, and the jealous, spurned wind god - whichever one it was - got his revenge on both the sun god and the youth by causing a discus thrown by Apollo to be blown off-course and strike Hyacinthus in the head.
Weeping, Apollo cradled the dead youth in his arms and proclaimed that the Spartans would forever honor his lost love in the annual Hyacinthia festival. He also created a flower called the hyacinth; different from the hyacinth of today, this flower had "AI" - the Greek syllable of lament - written on its petals.

I Have No Will Power

Still standing bent over behind my chair, he moved his mouth off of my neck and instead grabbed my hair to tilt my head all the way back; I would have had a perfect view of the stale ceiling if his gorgeous face wasn't in the way. He smiled a sleepy end-of-the-day type smile, which looked weird since I was looking at his face upside down - upside-down smiles evoke in me thoughts of aliens and the sixty-nine.
"Listen, you've been typing nothing but a whole bunch of asterisks into your new story ever since I went to work on your neck. Can you pay attention to me for a few minutes?"
I sniffed, pulled his strong fingers out of my hair, and stood up to face him. He was nearly two meters tall, and I was just several centimeters under his height. His face was a cute blend of his Italian and Norwegian background: huge green eyes with long, dark lashes, short hair the color of wet sand at the roots fading to the color of dishwater at the tips and pale pink lips that were full without being grossly swollen. Under his formal physician's outfit consisting of unitunic, trousers, and cape, all made of a super-soft dark blue fabric, I knew his body was magnificently smooth, slender without being lanky and deep-chested without being bulky.
I stopped appraising my better half and instead directed a mock frown at him. "Maybe I'll grant you a few moments of my time if you can tell me exactly why you fizzed out on our date today. Like I'm going to believe that lame excu-"
He grabbed me by the shoulders and quickly slammed his mouth over mine, and as much as I hate evasive tactics and manipulation, I knew I had a choice, and my body immediately conformed to his.

Learn How to Tame a God for Five Drachmas

Apollo, nude and sweating, arrhythmically tightened and loosened his embrace around the naked youth underneath him as he slowly regained his breath and composure. He was barely at the point of admitting it even to himself, but Hyacinthus certainly had total possession of him; for the past few weeks they had been doing nothing except oiling each other up for other things besides competing in wrestling and the discus, a fact which both unnerved and excited the jaded sun god.
Apollo was shockingly gorgeous, from his lithe-yet-solid build to his pale, wavy white hair streaked with flame. His snow-white complexion, currently wet with sweat, was not pasty but flushed with spots of dark pink, and his face was just a bit softer than classically beautiful, with unsettlingly vivid eyes of red gold flecked with sparks of copper, an infuriatingly elegant nose, and fine pink lips hovering over a cleftless chin. Hyacinthus was similar in looks, except his face was more elfin, his build was more slender, his complexion was between olive and tawny, and his hair was a luxuriously thick peasant black.
There was nothing else that was peasant about Hyacinthus though, thought the god as he stared down affectionately at the youth pressed against him. How a childhood as a homeless Spartan orphan had produced such a smart, talented, sweet, and sexy youth was beyond the god's comprehension, and he ran a finger over Hyacinthus' left forearm, where there was a crisscrossing of thin knife scars that spoke of a less glamorous past; together, the scars looked like a distorted capital alpha and capital iota.
The boy had his eyes closed and sealed with dark lashes, and his damp, limp hair was clinging to his forehead just as his arms were weakly clinging to Apollo's back. Hyacinthus wasn't the only one who knew how to please, and Apollo chuckled in his sexy baritone.
"Can we do that again?"
Hyacinthus' eyes - they were the pale purple color found in those flowers which people inaccurately call "blue" - immediately flew open at this suggestion, and he grinned, his grip on Apollo suddenly becoming stronger. "Shell out five drachmas and I'll think about it. And by the way, why do we always have to do this outdoors? Some god you are, not even taking me to your palace of gold or whatever before we get this sweaty. Frankly, I'm thankful that so far none of the bites on my body are from all the bugs in the air, but then again, they probably just hate the taste of olive oil on young Spartan flesh. Unlike you."
It wasn't that funny, but Apollo was just so spent and happy that he burst out laughing and slapped at Hyacinthus' arm to stem the loquacious tenor torrent even as he pressed his cheek against the boy's forehead.

Silently seated in the shadowy branches of the tree above the laughing couple, he watched the inane, corny scene, luxuriating in feeling disgust, loneliness, amusement, and jealousy course simultaneously through his exquisite body. Controlling his fury at the couple and at his own idiocy/envy, he released a stiff, mood-killing west wind and had to hold in his laughter as he saw the favorite son of Zeus and the flower of Sparta yelp in surprise and hurry to put warm clothes over their nude bodies.

Stop It, the Stars Are Coming Out

Intuition told me something was definitely not quite right today, and I broke off the kiss to glare at him. Glaring made me look even uglier, and at any rate it was unconvincing since I was still clinging to his body like a barnacle, but I couldn't help it.
"Don't do that to me, Mister Mat Gaard-Tezuka. You'll have to tell me sooner or later, and for all concerned sooner is better, don't you think?" There's a sort of boredom that comes from needing something to occupy the rest of your mind when one is talking to another person, and due to that boredom I listened to the sound of my quiet baritone voice as I talked.
Grinning, he pulled away from me and began to undress, grinning shyly at me as he did so; I realized then that the greeting he gave my neck when he got home was just another attempt to divert my attention from the fact that he had been evasive about lunch earlier, and I was furious for not noticing it sooner, especially when I prided myself on being quick to pick up such things. I felt my ears moving back in annoyance as I pretended everything was alright, and I moved to him as he undressed.
"How was work today?" I asked as I hung up the cape and tunic he had tossed on the bed. Seeing his bare chest, I decided to undress as well and began divesting garments with deliberate slowness.
His tenor sigh was sexy and genuinely dramatic as he sat on the bed to remove his pants. "Terrible, sweetie. I delivered two stillborn girls in two hours, and all that gene repair I was doing on those piscine ova for the people in xenobio gave no results. The Masterxenobiologist chewed me out," and he let out a small laugh, "She told me that when it came to anything piscine, I would be better qualified at packaging tuna than doing gene repair. So. I've failed the first half of xenobio. Basic xenobio."
I raised a hand to my mouth, completely sorry that I had been upset with him for lying about why he couldn't make our lunch date; I whispered a guilty "oh no..." as I rushed over to where he sat on the bed and knelt in front of him, hugging his bare legs and resting my cheek against his lightly haired thigh. By now we were both wearing only our socks and mid-length briefs, and I closed my eyes at the luxurious feel of his bare skin interfaced with mine, trying to transmit comforting empathy vibes through that contact. "My poor dear genius medicine slash astronomy intern..."
He chuckled and lightly ran his fingers through my hair. "So, now it's your turn, Mister Enshou Gaard-Tezuka. While I was having the most fridged day at work in my entire life, how did my dear genius xenobotany slash composition intern fare this merry day?"
I lifted my head to grin hesitantly up at him. "Well, I feel guilty for bearing good tidings, but I think this new story is going really well."
"The Apollo and Hyacinthus thing?"
I nodded, gratified by the fact that he remembered, but then again, he and I were both in it. "Yep, that's the one. I sent a working copy to Masterpublisher Forian at the City Magazine and he says that he'll pay me a thousand credits to publish it and to have me write for the City for a trial month. You and I can finally live in this place without being in the red."
"That's great, sweetie."
My face fell at this response and I tried for humor. "I overwhelmed by His Royal Apathy's praise."
He blinked and smiled down gently at me. "Sorry. It's not your fault I'm the failure in this relationship." He went on before I could utter either a denial or a question: "But I do have some good news! I ran into an old friend of mine, which is why I canceled our lunch date."
I felt my face slowly freezing into a total lack of expression and I saw a wary look creep into his eyes as I spoke quietly and with the air of exaggerated sensibility that I always adopted when I was pissed. "We were supposed to have lunch today to celebrate our wedding last month. To celebrate the fact that we've been together since we were sixteen; to celebrate the fact that it was about two months ago when we were counting the days till you turned eighteen so we could marry and be at University as a couple. And you couldn't ask your old friend to give you a call sometime?"
"Enshie..."
My grip on his legs loosened. "Bad enough that we both were required to work as hard as apprentices today - even though today was supposed to be a day off for us to celebrate - so that we only had free time for each other during lunch, but on top of that you lied when you called me and canceled!" I was talking so fast I accidentally got some spittle onto his face.
"Shades, Enshie, it was lunch! And we're here now for dinner-"
"It's the principle, not the lunch. You know I wouldn't be half as upset if you had told me the truth." I removed myself from his legs before he could kiss his way out of the issue again and walked over to my console, sitting down and deleting all the asterisks I had typed in the short story. I always felt stupid arguing with him while we were both unclothed, and I restlessly got up from the console to dress again with my back turned to him. It was silent for awhile, and then he started speaking to my shoulder blades.
"Listen, it was really important. This person was my best friend at my old school, just before I met you. There was no way I could pass up the opportunity to have a talk." When he got no response, he suddenly grew angry: "What the hell is it with you and your jealousy? I don't believe in that fridge but you sure as hell are a damn good Scorpio, aren't you?"
I bent down to pull on my socks and boots, even put on my cape to show that I had no intention of undressing any time soon, and sat down at my console again. After staring at the monitor for a bit I started clattering away at the keyboard, typing "youandyourbullshit" over and over, and above the annoyingly fast clicking noise of my typing I cheerfully asked, "And she wouldn't have understood if you told her you had a wedding to celebrate?"
He cleared his throat nervously. "It's a he."
I whirled in my chair. "I knew it. I knew it. And here you're trying to tell me my jealousy is somehow wrong or unfounded when he's not only a best friend, but a good friend!"
He sighed, mainly with suppressed anger. "Okay, Enshie, you found me out, so just stop it."
"Don't 'Enshie' me."
After a few timespans of silence, the doorbell rang. He paled slightly and managed to stammer out: "I invited Apollo over for dinner. I wanted him to celebrate our wedding with us."
I blinked twice but recovered quickly, raising an acerbic eyebrow. "Apollo?"
He flinched, so I knew my tone had spoken volumes. "His parents were part of the third neo-hippie movement in 2460, and that's what they named him, since they thought he was as bright as the sun. Most people call him Paul for short."
"How adorable."
He cleared his throat. "We have enough sashimi for three, don't we, hon?"
The doorbell rang again and he scrambled to put his clothes back on, not even waiting for an answer. I stared disgustedly at his frantic, undignified efforts and after flicking a bit of imaginary dust off my cape I said with deliberate languidness: "I'll get the door for you; it might be someone important."

Pork

His sweaty skin flashing in the sun, Hyacinthus grinned as he ran through the clearing, holding his spear with a careful, eager grip. As much as he loved being pinned under Apollo's bare body every chance he got, it was still good to vary their schedule now and then. He and the god had been hunting in the forest together for a couple of hours, and they had just split up to do some individual foraging, with a promise to meet back at the forest's edge by high noon.
Hyacinthus quickly turned and crouched down when he heard a rustle, but on closer inspection he found that it was only a small wild pig lurking the brush, and a very young pig from the looks of it. For a brief, guilty moment, he wondered if the lack of challenge made it worth killing such a gentle, young creature, but roasted young pig would make good eating even in this hot weather, and the look of satiation on Apollo's face after such a fine meal would be worth the whole thing.
The Spartan boy therefore let fly his spear, and it would have been a direct hit in the young pig's head, but miraculously a powerful, brief crosswind blew the spear sideways off its course just as it was about to strike. Hyacinthus didn't even notice the incredibly lucky creature squealing and running off as he knelt in wonder next to where the errant spear lay under a tree.
As he stared down at the spear, a pair of bare, well-shaped feet moved into Hyacinthus' range of vision, and the boy jumped up, his eyes widening.
The stranger had tousled/wavy black hair and wore a dark blue himation made of a soft, luminous fabric; his eyes were the same watery color and they were large to the point of giving the stranger a slightly insane look that didn't fit the serenity of the rest of his face. His smooth features were so finely wrought that he seemed like a young boy, except his body was tall as Apollo's - and from the look of the part of his chest that was not covered by the himation, it was just as matured/perfected. His skin gave off a dry, pleasingly warm glow, and his hair waved about as if it were constantly being groomed by breezes.
The man opened his delicate lips. "I am Zephyrus, the West Wind." His voice was like a quieter, sweeter version of Apollo's.
Hyacinthus blinked, his quick mind coming to a conclusion. "You blew my spear off course. Why in Hades did you do that? I almost had that animal!" Briefly Hyacinthus considered the folly of speaking angrily to a god, but being Apollo's lover had desensitized him to being in the presence of immortals and it was only a passing thought.
He needn't have worried however: a haunted, worried look came into Zephyrus' huge eyes and the man grabbed Hyacinthus by the shoulders. "Forgive, please, forgive me... I just wanted to get your attention and show you what I could do."
Hyacinthus stared. "Why?"
"I want you." The hands on Hyacinthus' shoulders tightened spastically.
Taken aback by the speed and blunt honesty of the answer, Hyacinthus blinked reflexively and took a few seconds to recover. "Your attentions are flattering, but the sun god has already claimed me." He faltered slightly as he saw Zephyrus' eyes darken in a disturbing way. "Apollo is the-"
"I loved you long before Apollo even knew who you were; I've protected you for years, even while you were living as a thief in Sparta. You think all those daggers thrown at you by angry shopkeepers missed you by chance? You think the reason why their knives missed you is any different from the reason why your spear missed that creature? By Lethe and Acheron, I was protecting you so that I could claim you for my own when you had grown into a young man, and damned Apollo-"
Hyacinthus tried to squirm away. "Please, I must finish hunting."
The god's grip on his shoulders grew frighteningly tighter. "No, wait-"
"Please!" He was almost free from the god's grasp when suddenly Zephyrus embraced him tightly and forced his tongue into the boy's mouth.
Hyacinthus resisted at first - Zephyrus wasn't as good a kisser as Apollo anyway - but the wind god's kiss was so full of giving, worship, urgency, and a sincerity that the boy had never felt with Apollo, and his mental fortress crumbled as he pressed himself against Zephyrus and started kissing back, causing the wind god to utter a noise that was half moan, half relieved sob.

I'm Lactose Intolerant But I Love Ice Cream

As much as he had pissed me off about the way he had handled the whole affair, I was not about to let his ex-boyfriend see me all upset, so I put on my best indolent superiority smile and touched the panel that triggered the front door to slide open, saying "Hello there!" with false buoyancy as the door gave way.
Though I was very tall, only slightly shorter than him, I could tell Apollo was a bit taller than him. The man's pale cream skin, which would have looked sallow on any other person, was perfectly offset by a caped suit of dark green, the color of his eyes. His straight, butter-colored hair was cut short enough to make him look commanding, but left long enough to give his charismatic, grinning face a boyish look.
As Apollo gripped my hand strongly and shook it, a towering surge of inadequacy washed over me and suddenly my cheeks felt tired from trying to smile.
"Enshou Tezuka? I admired your paper on Forhaut marine algae. Fine work, especially for a first-year student," he said as he caressingly slid his fingers free of mine.
Feeling like a fool, I blushed anyway, completely taken in by his looks and demeanor, and this time my smile was genuine, though I knew my tone was a bit wary. "Enshou Gaard-Tezuka. Mat and I married last month, a few weeks after my paper was published."
Apollo laughed sheepishly. "Oh yes, that's right. And my manners are bad as usual - Apollo Sky-Elegy, call me Paul. I'm a xenobotany major as well, third year, which is how I came across your paper."
I had blinked once at "Sky-Elegy" and I blinked again at "third year." Gesturing for him to come into the living area, I said, "Your parents must be poets to give you such a name." I heard him chuckle and decided to press on to more dangerous ground, veiling my thoughts with a jocular tone. "And why is a handsome, committed third year student like yourself hanging around someone like Mat?"
Apollo laughed again.

"So, what did you think?" he whispered to me worriedly as we cleared up quickly in the kitchen.
I glanced in the direction of the next room, even though our guest had left a few minutes ago. "Apollo? He was very sweet, and such charisma. Cute too, though you're cuter." My whole attitude to his friend Apollo had changed when I had realized that Apollo's double last name proved that he was already married; moreover, Apollo was probably married to a woman, as I knew the only other person at University with the surname of Sky-Elegy had been a female biotechnician who had given a seminar at the beginning of the term. I felt incredibly stupid for doubting him, and I stayed ruefully quiet and smiled to myself as he and I cleaned up together.
"Enshie."
"Yeah?" I turned to him as I sucked a sticky ice cream stain off the back of my hand, and he grinned, kissing me on the forehead.
"The food was great, Enshie."
I knew what he was really trying to say, but I was feeling playful, so I feigned cluelessness. "And to thank you for that compliment, I'll remind you that it's your turn to do the cooking tomorrow, even if I dread another curry night."
I felt him watching my back as I put the last of the dishes into the sanitizer, and when I turned to face him again he pushed me up against the counter and kissed me so hard that my head and tongue started to hurt, and I grabbed onto him with wet hands to keep from collapsing - as it was we both slid to the floor and he landed on top of me, our legs tangling according to the Law of Sexual Bodily Entropy.
I lay there with my back on the floor, and stared up at him dazedly. "Not that I mind, but what's gotten into you?"
He smiled down at me. "Thank you. Apollo was talking to you more than he was to me because you were so amazing. And I can practically read your thoughts - why did you doubt me?"
I grinned, feeling a guilty tear rise to one of my eyes. "Listen, sweetie, I'm really really-"
"Shh, no, I'm sorry."
"Still..." I struggled to sit up, but he held me down by my wrists.
"Just shut up for once." He kissed my neck, which always killed any train of thought I had, and muttered simply: "I know."
He chanted those two words over and over as he snaked his arms around my neck, but I knew how to please too, and soon he wasn't saying anything coherent.

I woke up in bed, still feeling utterly satiated from my session with him in the kitchen. I turned to him, intending to wake him up and start it all over again, but just as I realized that his side of the bed was empty I heard his voice in the kitchen.
"Apollo, I said to just calm down. Why did you come back here? Thank stars Enshie is a heavy sleeper."
I got into a robe and silently padded to the hallway just as Apollo started speaking. "Mat, I love you. I always loved you, even when we were young. You knew that. I want to divorce Aranya and marry you. I want to hate Enshou for having you, but he's only guilty of having good taste."
My blood would have frozen right then and there, but then his answer made the constriction in my chest go away: "Paul, your attentions are flattering, but no, I've already been claimed by Enshou."
There was a long silence, so long that I nearly rushed out to see what was happening, to hug my wonderful darling and tell this two-faced Apollo to get out. Then I heard the slick sound of kissing, heard Mat whimper and gasp the way he had done with me a few hours earlier, and even though that sound turned me on I felt sick, like the time I had tiredly gulped down half a glass of rancid milk before I realized that milk wasn't supposed to be carbonated.

Jealous Old Buzzard

He flew. He flew, holding his bleeding thigh, away from the crying boy in the middle of the forest clearing, away from the sun god's wrath.
Idiot! Things had been going so well! Hyacinthus had been in his embrace, Hyacinthus had been under his body and in his control, and then Apollo had appeared, shooting an arrow into his thigh! By Hades!
His jaw tightened as he remembered how Hyacinthus had responded to him, how Hyacinthus had reciprocated and taken control of him in return, and as he flew, he changed into a bright blue bird.
The bird flew back to the clearing, where Apollo and Hyacinthus still were. Perching in a tree, he listened to their voices as the leaves blocked his view of them, and then he heard the sound of kissing, heard Hyacinthus whimper and gasp in Apollo's arms the way he had done with him a few minutes earlier, and even though that sound turned him on he felt sick, like the time he had tiredly gulped down half a goblet of rancid nectar before he realized that nectar wasn't supposed to bubble.

Interlude - Tigers Till Dawn

I lay in bed and pretended to be asleep, even though I had listened to the whole thing. I heard the front door slide shut and heard him walk quietly back in our room. I opened one eye a crack and saw that his knees were a bit wobbly from his exertions with Apollo, and that pissed me off the most.
He laid down quietly, and after he had gotten himself settled, I spoke.
"I know, Hyacinthus." It felt like my voice had palpably shattered the silence.
He jumped and sat up. "What?"
I remained lying down, my eyes closed and my voice as calm as a dead cow. "I heard the whole thing. Your little sun god gives some damn good head, doesn't he? Did he learn from you or from Aranya?"
"Oh shit, Enshou..." He started crying.
This time it was I who held him down by the wrists, I who kissed away his tears, and this time it was I who came first.
By the time I had finished with him, false dawn was lighting up the night sky.

Do Not Expose to Air with Fire

Hyacinthus sighed happily as he watched Apollo work with the discus. The god's nude, oiled body shone like white flame in the morning sun as he whirled and threw the object, sending it soaring over the dewy green field.
How could he have ever loved Zephyrus? Apollo was his first and only love, not some crazed, insane god. No matter how sincere, or profound those words and that kiss in the forest yesterday might have been, Enshou disturbed Hyacinthus, with those intense looks and fervent declarations. And the way the wind god had mastered him in the forest before Apollo arrived - that wasn't love; that was possession. Zephyrus had actually blurted out something like "you're mine, my Hyacinthus" while he had the boy pinned down.
"And what is my Hyacinthus thinking about?"
Hyacinthus whirled and blinked. "Hah?"
Apollo made a face at him. "It's your turn to throw, discus boy."
The normally talkative, centered boy spoke awkwardly. "Oh! Right!" He looked around confusedly to see where he had put his discus.
Apollo stared. "You're still worried about yesterday, aren't you?" Seeing the scared look on Hyacinthus' face, he smiled. "Mat, I already said it's not your fault. I want to hate Zephyrus for doing that to you, but he's only guilty of having good taste."
Hyacinthus grinned, though his mind was still troubled. "You're too good to me." He picked up his discus, whirled, and threw.
Apollo whistled, keeping a straight face. "Such good aim - your discus is only a hundred paces away from mine."
Hyacinthus laughed. "Just shut up for once!"
"Don't speak to your god that way!"
Hyacinthus giggled. "Don't you dare pull rank on me. I'll go run to the other side of the meadow and throw them back to you, so that way we can throw to and fetch for each other." He ran, his nude body skimming over the pale green of the grass, and as he went, his mirth died away as he thought once more about the insanely intense wind god.

The Salmacis Method - You Go, Girl!

When he woke up, he walked into the cooking area and actually gasped when he saw Apollo sitting next to me at the kitchen table.
Hyacinthus grabbed the first discus and was about to throw it back to Apollo when he saw Zephyrus run up, his magnificent body nude and oiled. The wind god smiled oddly and asked, "Can I play discus with you two?"
He stammered in confusion rather comically, staring from me to Apollo and back again, and I spoke up: "I looked up Apollo in the University's directory, and he and Aranya were the only Sky-Elegys in it. So I called him over. It's for the good of the three of us, you know."
Zephyrus' nude body gleamed as he stared intently at the surprised boy. "You have to make a choice, Hyacinthus. When we were together yesterday, you felt it too, didn't you? It'll just hurt you, Apollo, and me till you make a decision."
He laughed nervously and went to the refrigerator, taking out some juice in a large glass pitcher. "What are you talking about, Enshie? The only one I love is..."
Hyacinthus' smile disappeared as he felt himself hesitate. He stared at Zephyrus' smug smile and gulped, whirled around, and threw the discus.
Apollo deftly caught the pitcher of juice as it slipped from his shaking fingers. "Whoa, Mat. I think you should be sitting down. I'll pour for all of us."
Zephyrus stared after the discus. "Bad throw. I have a bigger effect on you than I thought. But you have to make your choice now. I can't deal with a boy whose heart is half elsewhere."
He whirled around to glare at me. "Okay, Enshou, you did this. You want a decision, fine! It's the sun god I love, not you! He was my first love, and I can't change that!"
Hyacinthus glared at the wind god. "Happy?"

Final Stage - Kitchen Suite

I got up slowly from the kitchen table, grabbed the pitcher of juice, and drank from it deeply till nothing was left. I was feeling somewhat giddy, and I giggled and sighed with exaggerated contentment as I smacked the sweet juice from my lips, banging the pitcher down on the table in front of Apollo's face and causing him to jump. "Very happy, Hyacinthus. I leave you to your true love."
He grabbed my arm as I was nearly out of the kitchen. "Enshie, wait. You said I had to make a choice, and I did."
"Don't call me Enshie, Mat-Mat."
"Fine, then, Zephyrus, you told me to make my choice, and I did. This is all your doing."
I sighed, again with that exaggerated note in it. "Aw, come on, Mat. You little Spartan thieves have tongues that are not only good at fellatio but also at spouting bullshit."
His eyes hardened, and when he spoke his voice was raised. "Well, let me tell you this: I don't care if you are a wind god, if you had handled this whole thing a bit better I might have chosen you instead. And you want to know another thing?"
Apollo caught the discus when he noticed that there was someone standing next to the boy. He squinted at the two people, calculated, threw the discus back towards Hyacinthus, and ran after it to make sure everything went right.

Blow Me Conjunction

As he continued to shout at me, I looked up at the sky, and blew with all my lung capacity on the discus.

Final Stage - Hyacinthia Suite

"Mat? Mat! MAT!!!" I heard the sun god shout out his name as he cradled the dead body. "Hyacinthus, please wake up. Mat, please!"
Apollo cradled the dead youth, watching the bright red flow out of a crack on the side of Hyacinthus' head. "Oh, Mat... killed by my own hand. I meant to kill Zephyrus with that glass pitcher but it was you who got hit by the discus. Mat... All Spartans will honor your beauty each year with the Hyacinthia festival. You deserve no less."
I stared down at his dead body. I stared down at the sun god as he cried and screamed over that dead body, smirking a bit as I realized that Apollo hadn't seen the way I had quickly pushed him into the pitcher's trajectory so that I'd be spared.
Miraculously, crimson red flowers, the ancient flowers the Greeks called hyacinths though they were nothing like the pale purple hyacinths of today, began to bloom on the kitchen floor among the glass pitcher shards where his blood had spilled. I gasped, and tears came to my eyes at the pretty site, blurring my view of the tableau at my feet even as the University Police rushed through the door to investigate the screaming.