Don't Dwell Here (reserved)

[Hermes]

(Apollo yo)

Hermes was plucking on the strings of the new lyre he had made before his trip to the Underworld as he tried to think of a… happy song for Persephone and it really wasn’t working. She was right though, she had heard his heart, unrequited love. Damn it he was lame. He had tried looking for Pan and Apollo to no avail and now he was hoping that they didn’t turn up because he currently felt a depressed mood coming around and Pan just made fun of him and Apollo… generally made things worse. The man was his rival and his best friend, someone he really didn’t want to see seeing him an emotional wreck. He was plucking strings on his new lyre as he sat on the grass trying to ignore the new joke the nymphs had come up for him. It still rang in his ears and it was making it really hard to concentrate on making a song as theirs continued to replay in his head.

“Alone in the world is Hermes
Probably ‘cause he has herpes!”

That’s generally where he tuned out. Right after the second line. Bitches. He was going to get the back… agh, who the hell was he kidding he wasn’t the violent guy. Why DID his name have to rhyme with a sexually transmitted disease? How horribly ironic. He frowned as he started to pluck the strings. He needed to make something happy because that was what Persephone wanted and if he ever tried to tell her how he felt any other way OR made her cry again he was pretty sure that he would be stuck in Pirithous for the remainder of the civil war and maybe if he was lucky he would get out a few centuries after that. He was stressing to try to make up something but ended up just playing and singing with an extremely gay tune:

“If I try to write it happy
It’ll come off as extremely sappy
And right now I’m rhyming mad with sad.”

Geez he had no rhymes today. He was the patron god of poetry for crying out loud (shared with Apollo that bastard). However he was sure that if Apollo (bastard god of music) heard that pathetic song right now he was going to get stomped on. It wasn’t what he wanted to sing of course, he was trying to force himself to no avail and so it was coming out close to word vomit and he ended up lying face down on the grass quite like a dead or unconscious person as he didn’t move an inch. Damn was he a pathetic mess or what? He groaned loudly, irritated and started to grip his hair in his hands though his face was still face down in the grass.

“Damn it to hell.”

He meant that literally. Persephone was there, after all.

[Apollo]

Drifting though the grass of the Olympian meadow, Apollo followed the sound of something rather horrible. Ever curious, the god had to find the source of such an unbearable noise in the pristine utopia of Mt. Olympus. For wandering a meadow, Apollo seemed oddly formal. His white shirt was buttoned up, covered with a golden vest that appeared to have been in fashion in the early 19th century. Even so, it was practically radical fashion on Mt. Olympus.

With a faint sneer, Apollo noticed that it was Hermes playing the tune. He walked up behind him from behind, trying to remain unnoticed, before breaking the silence with a biting remark. “Don’t do that. I seriously doubt Hades would appreciate you sending him such nonsense,” he teased as he sat down next to his friend. The fact that Hermes might be playing badly because he was upset about something didn’t cross Apollo’s mind. Rationally, he assumed that Hermes simply hadn’t practiced in a long time.

With a wave of his hand, Apollo conjured his lyre, the same one that Hermes gave him millennia ago. He picked out a quick, lively melody, quite unlike the lamentations that Hermes was trying to write for Persephone. Apollo didn’t care, his sun was shining, the grass was soft and he had just solved a tiny little mystery. Yup. Eternal life was good sometimes.

[Hermes]

There were two people he had specifically said and prayed that he wouldn’t see today, he thought he made it clear: Apollo and Pan. One WOULD happen to show up just thanks to his awful sense of good luck. Damn he had to be the luckiest man on this side of Olympus, he dragged himself up to a sitting position so that he could reply properly because well, he had his face in the grass about only two seconds ago. Hermes also dressed in modern fashion though mainly because he was the messenger to the humans he felt more akin to them (plus those robes made him feel like a sissy on more than one occasion.) So he was wearing his usual winged cap however though it looked more or less like an eighteenth century thief hat and he had a scarf wound around his neck as he blinked at Apollo as if his mind could barely register who he was.

“I just CAME from Hades… and Persephone,” Though he added the last part extremely quietly as he looked over at Apollo with a slight twitch at his friend’s rather lack of sensitivity. “And my name rhymes with herpes. A sexually transmitted disease.” He said bitterly and turned away from Apollo before he remembered Persephone’s comment about how his music had been better than Apollo’s and his face lit up with a sudden optimism as he practically pounced on Apollo. Persephone was known for crying when music was lovely though only Orpheus had made her do that… until TODAY. “Persephone said my music is much better than yours,” He gloated rather loudly as he rarely found a time to beat Apollo and narrowed his eyes when he saw HIS lyre that HE had made on the day he was born. Stupid cows. It didn’t occur to him that saying that comment right after playing something horrible would only make him sound stupid because he wasn’t stupid, his song had been awesome but hell if he was going to play the same thing for Apollo.

He frowned when Apollo started to play something lively and he waved his new lyre in Apollo’s face. “Hey hey you are messing up my thinking space stop THAT. I came here specifically to avoid YOU so you stop with those cheery tunes I’m trying to sulk.” He said slightly angrily and crossed his arms over his chest before he started to pluck on his lyre an obviously angry tune to compete with Apollo’s happy one. “You suck. Major. Ass. WILL YOU GO AWAY!?” He blurted out suddenly. It was rare to see Hermes so angry but he couldn’t stand this happy music right now or Apollo’s usual critical comments however after he rubbed his forehead. “Ugh. I’m sorry I don’t mean that I’m just… not in the mood. I just came back from the Underworld and almost got my ass chewed by Hades for making Persephone cry with what I played. I tried to make her happy and I made her cry Apollo! What the hell is with that!?” He asked suddenly shaking the man by the shoulders. It was rare to see him so emotional as usually Hermes would just crack up at the smallest thing and steal something.

He really wanted his lyre back and it was looking better by the minute.

[Apollo]

“So he already kicked you out?” Apollo laughed at the irony. With a shrug, Apollo attempted to comfort his friend. “Actually, the name for the disease is Herpes Simplex and it can infect anywhere on the body, commonly the mouth and face, not only the genitals. Plus, it’s passed through contact, not intercourse,” he explained, as though this would ease the sting. He didn’t quite understand that it wasn’t the insult, but it was the intention of the insult that mattered.

Frowning slightly, and pausing his song, Apollo raised an eyebrow in Hermes’ direction. “Playing like that? Is she deaf?” Apollo responded quite honestly. His voice wasn’t condescending, it was genuinely curious, and he also didn’t realize how much he might offend Hermes.

Apollo looked at Hermes with a mixture of confusion and disgust. He felt immensely uncomfortable around passionate emotions. After a moment, Apollo’s face fell as Hermes apologized. He wished his friend would shut up and keep all of this emotion to himself, because honestly, Apollo didn’t want to deal with it. Apparently, attempting to express his sympathy by playing the tune of the funeral march didn’t make Hermes feel any better, because the next thing Apollo knew, he was being shaken.

Rolling over, Apollo tried to escape the emotional wreckage on top of him in a mild panic. Sitting, up straight and clearing he throat, he regained his composure. He rolled up his sleeves as though the open meadow suddenly felt stuffy. “That’s sounds terribly unfortunate.” He remarked objectively. Apollo was never good with empathy.

[Hermes]

“Tch, you act like you could even get into the Underworld without Hades trying to rip your neck out.” Hermes said folding his arms over his chest stubbornly however his eyes narrowed in irritation though he had a slack expression that showed he didn’t really understand what Apollo was saying when he started to get technical on him. “…So it not only affects the genitals but also the mouth and the face AND it can be passed through simple contact THANKS that’s WONDERFUL.” Hermes said sarcastically as Apollo honestly wasn’t helping at all. Not in any way, shape or form and he was sorely irritated right now. “She is NOT deaf. I play better when A) You aren’t there playing something the counter opposite of me and B) when I was not just recently stomped on so you shut up.” He said bitterly when Apollo made his comment. Oh how cute Apollo let’s make more comments on how much Hermes sucks. Asshole. It was offending him, a lot. “Tch, I gave you that stupid lyre of yours so YOU be quiet you don’t get to talk about it.”

This was the exact reason why he didn’t want Apollo here because Apollo was like his polar opposite and his complete rival and just made everything, seriously, EVERYTHING about ten times worse. Hermes hated emotions, he really did. Everything but happy to the point his face was going to break was the only thing he liked. Emotions that were well, too emotional always irritated him. Anger, sadness, depression… just it wasn’t him and Apollo was only making it come out. “You suck,” Hermes spat sticking his tongue out quite like a child. That was how many of the other Olympians saw him anyway, after all Hermes was still the childish one when it came to comments and well, his antics since he still told horrible jokes and his stick fingers had never left him.

He suddenly grabbed Apollo by the waist however something mid wrestle as he was indeed wrestling with whatever the hell he was trying to do. “Wait… Apollo. Look, okay I’m fine now I swear I’m fine.” He said practically shoving his head on Apollo’s shoulder and not realizing how the contact might be a little bit awkward for two best friends whose shows of affection were more or less punching the other in the arm or making stupid comments. However he was pulling away and he did actually look a little bit like his old self after practically blabbering off like an idiot and he took his hat off, scratching his head as he patted Apollo on the shoulder before asking what was likely to be an awkward question but Hermes had never been known for his discretion.

“Hey, random question. If you like guys how come we never…okay never mind I don’t think I want the answer.” He said putting his cap back on so he could hide his eyes more or less. It had been on his mind just because of the half depression slump he had been in but now the thought was just making him jumpy a little bit before he half tackled Apollo into the meadow pinning him down by the shoulders. “Come on damn it Apollo you know you want to.” Never once did Hermes specify what Apollo might want but well, he was at his wits end here he was practically going insane. Apollo was here… and well, that was just convenient. He was sure he was going to regret this later but at the moment he wasn’t thinking straight.

[Apollo]

Frowning slighlty at Hermes’ reaction, Apollo looked away. He really thought that explaining Herpes would take the edge off of the insult, but apparently not. Maybe Hermes was just in a bad mood, and that’s why he was acting so bitter. Apollo found this behaviour rather unfortunate, because usually he relied on Hermes to lighten his days with laughter and fun for the sake of fun. “I’m sorry,” he apologized for his cynical misunderstanding. Well, if anybody thought they could play better than Apollo, they must be deaf- it was a logical though to the Sun God. “Yes, I doubt I tell you how much I appreciate it often enough. I play it nearly every day,” Apollo admitted.

Responding to Hermes’ immature insult with a short “humph”, Apollo didn’t pursue the conversation further. It was likely to get thrown in his face again. Instead, he tried to let the warm sun fill the bitter spot that Hermes’ had left on him. Although some people, like Dionysus, complained that Apollo was too serious, Apollo did enjoy quiet bliss. Thoughts were always more poignant when they weren’t clouded with a bad attitude.

It went without saying that Apollo wasn’t prepared for Hermes’ spontaneous attack. By the time Apollo could start to think in wrestling terms, he was already lying on his back. He would be willing to challenge Hermes to a match if he thought it would cheer the boy up. Apollo half-heartedly fought the pin for the game’s sake, but relaxed after a moment, figuring that letting Hermes win would probably put him in a better mood. In fact, judging by the look on his face, Hermes was feeling better already. In his mind, Apollo noted the effect of winning on a bad mood such as a doctor would note the effects of antibiotics on an ear infection.

Hermes’ question also caught Apollo slightly off-guard. His old friend was full of all sorts of surprised today. However, Apollo was never one to leave a question unanswered, he opened his mouth to explain himself before Hermes started his encouragement. Apollo sighed, and tucked his arms behind his head like a pillow. How could he explain that it took a lot more to get “in the mood” than this. “I value our intellectual relationship, Hermes. I don’t think it’s necessary to turn it into a physical relationship as well,” Apollo tried to explain. However, although he was expressing his disinterest, Apollo didn’t appear uncomfortable, except for his hesitant expression. Hermes was right, Apollo did not have a preference of men or women, but instead was attracted to a individual’s mind or soul. He longed for deeper love then simply the act of love.

[Hermes]

Hermes had it quite in mind to steal the lyre to deflate his head a little. It was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. He swore it was going to be for Apollo’s own good if he didn’t have THAT lyre to play from. Sure, it was flattering that the man still played the exact same one that he had given him eons ago what was NOT flattering was the fact that Apollo thought he was the best at music when he certainly had someone to compete with. However Hermes’ anger slightly cooled when he heard Apollo apologize… sort of and also tell him that he appreciated the lyre and he actually offered a faint smile in response. It was nice for Apollo to do that, the man rarely DID seem to appreciate anything but the sun shining down on his DAMNED back. GRAAFRG he was going to show Apollo who was boss one of these days.

Hermes sat on Apollo’s chest and in actuality, he did feel a hell of a lot better with Apollo lying underneath him and he put his feet on the man’s shoulders so that he couldn’t even sit up if he wanted to and smirked, actually starting to let out his usual laugh at just about nothing. Had Hermes known that Apollo was psychoanalyzing him he would have freaked and probably gone sour but luckily he did not and just was grinning his stupid face off that he had wrestled Apollo down though not to mention that A) It was a surprise attack and B) Apollo had barely struggled. Hermes sort of just stared when Apollo began to explain why they had never done it before but more or less he looked just like a confused mess as half of what Apollo said he barely understood, that is until he rephrased it in his mind over and over again until it was in his vocabulary which was, “I like our conversations but I don’t think sex works here.” OH okay.

It probably took Hermes a good minute or so to catch up and he was looking over at Apollo and slightly kicked him in the head. Why the hell did the man have to get so intellectual all the time? What an ass face. “Do you HAVE to explain everything like that? And I bet you are going to answer that with an intellectual answer so I don’t WANT to hear it. Tch, if I asked you why the sky was blue… don’t answer that either I’m talking to myself.” Hermes said scratching his head slightly as he looked over at Apollo. “So why do YOU seem so comfortable you usually are pissed when we wrestle unless you are sitting on top of me.” He remarked rather annoyed, “I just… need something to get my mind off… of someone.” He said not daring to say Persephone’s name out loud lest Apollo start laughing his head off… or psychoanalyzing it (that bastard). Geez, out of his four sons… they were all practically… abnormal in one way or another. One had gotten devoured alive, one was not even a real boy he was half WOMAN, one was half goat and one was only a demigod. He still didn’t exactly understand how Pan was born half goat.


He moved his position so that he had Apollo by the shoulders using his hands instead of his feet but he kept himself above so that they could look each other in the eye. “...Come ON Apollo!” (Hermes was still pissed about Apollo liking the descendent of the kid that had gotten his son devoured and well, it was starting to show a little now). However he eventually just lay on top of him, his head on his shoulder like he had been lying before with his head buried in the ground. “Argh forget it… I just … I don’t know. I thought that since we have been best friends for so long and hell… I’ve never really been into guys but I don’t know…” He said slowly getting off Apollo as he picked up his lyre. “Sorry… just forget I’ll go play.” He said in his usual upbeat tune and he actually started to play the lyre in a beautiful way, though he was more or less just replaying the song of unrequited love he had played for Persephone.

He couldn’t get her out of his head!

[Apollo]

A wide grin spread over Apollo’s white teeth, stretching dimpled lines across his face. He was glad to see Hermes in a better mood, although if there was another way to accomplish that without losing a wrestling scuffle, Apollo would have gladly taken it. He really, really didn’t like to lose. And now Hermes was just perched on top of him victoriously, and Apollo was starting to get slightly annoyed. Okay, just let me up already!

Waiting expectantly, for Hermes to catch up, Apollo shifted as much as he could in the grass. Hermes was making it hard for him to breathe, and it felt slightly claustrophobic. Apollo assumed that’s why Hermes kicked him in the head, and so when the boy expressed his dissatisfaction with Apollo’s explanation, he frowned slightly. What was he supposed to do if not answer questions? How could he bear just to let them hang. He was about to explain this, before Hermes’ pre-emptive retort forced Apollo to close his mouth. It took too much willpower not to mention about how shorter wavelengths are easier to refract and that’s why the sky was blue for Apollo to really consider taking Hermes’ advice to heart.

Apollo hesitated to tell Hermes that he let him win, and against his initial instinct he dodged the question with a joke. “I don’t strike you as someone who bottoms?” Apollo cut off his chuckle because it was uncomfortable to laugh with Hermes’ weight on his chest. Apollo was about to suggest Hermes go read to take his mind off of things before Hermes made it quite clear tat he had a different activity still on his mind. He looked nearly predatory.

“I can’t. I don’t want to be a part of your cycle of dissatisfaction,” Hermes likely wouldn’t understand, which is probably why the cycle continued for so long. Apollo slid one arm from behind his head to support Hermes’ lower back. Apollo grimaced slightly as though Hermes emotion on his shoulder stung. However, Apollo dwelled on the statement that he was “into guys”. He never thought of it that way before. He fell in love with a person’s soul, no matter what frame it occupied. And while he did love Hermes in a way, Apollo also knew that Hermes should learn to control his desire for sex when, like he said, wasn’t actually interested.

Apollo stood up slowly and walked to Hermes’ side as he played. “That’s very nice,” he remarked. “Just don’t get too cocky. I won’t always be there to let you win,” Apollo added with a wink. He let the truth slip anyway, it was impossible for Apollo to hide a secret for very long. It was his nature to be honest, wholly and completely.