InsaneJournal

NYU's campus had never been abandoned at any point during the summer, but Danny was definitely noticing a sudden upswing in activity as the fall semester's start drew closer. Every day, there were more people walking the halls, clustering around the stairs, or strolling between the buildings. It was kind of fun to watch the campus slowly fill up again. It did mean more work for him, though, not that he was really complaining. He never minded hanging out in the mythology department,  plus he got to spend more time around Billy and Quentin that way. And he was definitely not going to pass up an opportunity to be around with his professors. (His roomates had noticed that he was spending less and less time around his apartment, and were getting increasingly insistent that they meet whoever he was dating. Danny was enjoying telling them no.)

So Saturday afternoon found him and Quentin decorating the posterboards scattered throughout the halls of the mythology department. A box of thumbtacks sat between them, and fliers and announcements were piled in bright stacks around them. They worked mostly in comfortable silence, and so Danny didn't notice at first that Quentin attention had shifted.

When he glanced over at his professor, he found the other man staring at one of the pictures taken last summer, when Danny and some of the other grad students had gone to Oaxaca for an archaeological dig. He peeked over Quetzalcoatl's shoulder, smiling at the scene in the picture. It had been taken during their stopover in Mexico City, all of the students posing around one of the statues. The Danny in the picture already had the clear signs of a sunburn creeping up his neck and across his cheeks.

"That was a fun trip," Danny said, leaning his head against Quentin's shoulder briefly. They couldn't really be too affectionate in the middle of the hallway. Despite Billy and Quentin's reassurances, Danny was still very worried that his professors would get in crazy amounts of trouble if anyone found out that they were all sleeping together. "You should come, next summer."

"I can't," Quentin said, voice a little flat. But he smiled as he rested his hand on the back of Danny's neck for a moment. 

"You can't go back, can you?" Danny said, before he could stop himself. The suspicion had been brewing for a week or two now, as he amassed more information about the gods in his life, but he'd avoided asking because...hell, he didn't like admitting when he couldn't do things, and he was just some regular guy. Quentin was a god. "Sorry, I-"

"No, it's fine," Quentin said, looking at him with interest. "You're smart and you're curious, both of which are traits I very much like. How'd you come to that conclusion?"

"It--I--" Danny shifted awkwardly, feeling like he'd made some kind of enormous faux pas without quite understanding it at all.

"Danny," Quentin said, resting his hand on Danny's shoulder and stroking his thumb along his jaw, "you don't need to be afraid to ask me a question."

"I'm not afraid," Danny protested. Because he wasn't, not really. 'Afraid' was an emotion he associated with horror movies and family members getting sick, not his professors.

"But you are nervous," Quentin said. "It's only when you come away from your research binges, and it usually only lasts a few minutes, but it's there." His voice was still calm as he added, "And so far, it's only been around me."

Damn. Danny thought he'd been hiding that pretty well. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Quentin said, kissing his forehead gently. "What's wrong?"

"It's not like Billy's some kind of big, friendly puppy in his stories or anything," Danny explained, feeling hideously awkward. "But most of the things he did were to help people, or at least were just really funny. And I know there are plenty of times when that wasn't the case, but those stories-"

"Are harder to find, and less well known," Quentin finished. "Whereas I destroyed the world at least once and all of my friends and family eat people, and that's very well known."

"Yeah," Danny said, wincing at hearing it put that bluntly. "And it's not that I think you're going to blow up Earth or turn me into a sandwich, because you're also a good guy in the stories and I know you, but..." Danny shrugged, looking down. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Quentin said, and he even looked like it was all right, which was very reassuring. "I understand it, Danny. This is all a big adjustment. But I would never hurt you."

"I know," Danny said, and he meant that, too. Weird reaction to Quentin or not, Danny knew he wasn't in danger from either of his professors. 

"Good," Quentin said, smiling, He glanced up and down the hallway, then tilted Danny's chin up and kissed him. "Now, tell me how you figured out I can't go back to Mexico. I'm interested."

"Well, I couldn't figure out why you were here," Danny said. "You or any of the other Aztecs. I mean, obviously you don't have to be in Mexico or something, but it seems like you guys would want to stay where your homes had been. Billy and Rabbit and their family have been here forever, this is their home and always has been, and it makes total sense. But Mexico City is so close, and sits right on top of Tenochtitlan, and not even Huitzilopochtli is there. None of you go there or talk about going there...it just didn't make sense. So I started thinking maybe you couldn't go back, for whatever reason."

"Very logical," Quentin said approvingly. "And also right. As far as I can tell, we're all confined to America's borders."

"Really?" Danny asked, mind already whirling as he tried to figure out the mechanics of that. "Why? Do you meant the continental U.S.? Is it the political borders or the geographical ones or-"

"Danny, take a breath," Quentin laughed. He resumed pinning pictures to the board and explained, "It seems to be the political borders. I've been to Hawaii, and I've heard people mention going to Alaska. As for why, well, there's a lot of us who'd like an explanation for that. It seems to apply across the board, though. None of the New Gods can leave either."

"New Gods?" Danny asked.

Quentin grinned and handed Danny the box of thumbtacks. "Help me finish this board, and I'll explain it. You're going to be going on another research binge soon."

Danny smiled and took the box, already eager to hear more.