InsaneJournal

Lend Me Your Ears And I'll Sing You A Song
Who: Lucas and Percy
What: Buddies discuss gods over beers.
Where: Percy's Apartment
When: Sunday, December 3, 2017



As soon as Percy texted him to say he was back in town, Lucas grabbed a couple of beers and headed over to his friend’s apartment, rapping on the door with the cap of one of the bottles. He grinned when the door opened and stepped inside without being invited, handing over one of the bottles and twisting the cap off of the one in his hand. “You are not going to believe what went down while you were away,” he said, striding over to the couch and sitting down, taking a swig from his beer and watching Percy.

“Tell me everything, and I’ll be the one to decide if I believe it,” he said with a smirk, gratefully accepting the offered beer. Percy sat at the opposite end of the couch, posture relaxed and limbs loose with the familiar comfort of Lucas’ presence. He opened his beer eagerly, listening with delight to the satisfying clink from the bottle cap as it landed in the coaster holder on his coffee table. His aim had never been too terrible.

Still not as good as Lucas’, though. As if reading his mind, Lucas took the opportunity to one-up his friend, tossing his bottle cap at the same coaster holder with pinpoint accuracy, but from further away. He smirked and took another sip of beer.

“I’ve been up to my ears in family gossip and estrogen-soaked dinners. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve talked,” Percy lamented, a dramatic sigh punctuating his statement. “And I missed Halloween here--heard that was something else.”

Lucas let out a mock long-suffering sigh and chuckled. “I think I might have prefered that to the ‘party’,” he said, making air quotes with his fingers. “Seriously, that was...something else.” He shook his head in disbelief and then shifted on the couch so he was half angled towards his friend, starting his story, punctuated with many asides and sips of beer and interjections into his own narrative.

“Okay, it started out fine, right? Standard cheesy Halloween party with streamers crappy decorations and themed food and punch - which was spiked, of course. After an hour or so I was about ready to leave and go watch a horror movie when the shit went down.

“This guy who owns the building - who was some sort of giant werewolf apparently - showed up and made this speech about all the weird shit that’s been happening lately. Then he dumped a badly beaten woman onto the pool table - she was the one that was missing a while ago, I don’t know if you knew about that - and then activated some kind of remote. You know those masks the management sent us? They were all rigged to that remote with some kind of...I don’t know, electrical charge or something. We all went down and then...dude, I was Apollo,” he said, leaning forward to emphasise the point. “He didn’t just speak through me, I was him. Golden tan, rippling muscles, caduceus staff and all.”

Percy hadn’t known exactly what to expect when Lucas burst into a fantastic story of Halloween mishaps and some kind of odd god-morphing, but he ended up listening with his mouth nearly agape, brows furrowed in disbelief and amazement.

His beer was less than half-finished by the time Lucas finally finished his tale.

“What the hell was in the punch?” Percy began, his mind racing in an effort to process everything he’d been told. He was flabbergasted more by the fact that he could believe Lucas more easily than he couldn’t, though from his outburst, one would think it were quite the opposite. He ran a hand through dishevelled curls from one too many days of trying to get his regular life back on track after enough family time to last him another year or two.

“Look, I believe you, man. Mostly. But since when have you had rippling muscles? No Halloween costume is that good.” Unless Lucas had taken up heavy bench pressing at the gym in the month that Percy had been away--but he seriously doubted it. “I guess it makes sense for Apollo to be hanging out in California. Isn’t he the sun god?” Percy took a swig of his beer, trying to conjure up old memories of children’s books with laughing gods and goddesses, lounging on fancy couches in clothing that looked like window drapery.

“Among other things,” Lucas chuckled, still amused by the crack about his muscles.

“So, when you were Apollo,” Percy said, choosing his words carefully, “did you fight the giant werewolf?” If it were anyone other than Lucas, and if they lived anywhere other than this apartment building, he likely wouldn’t have been caught dead saying something of the sort unless it was in jest. Though admittedly, he was still having trouble picturing Lucas wearing the equivalent of a living room curtain.

Lucas grimaced a little, “unfortunately no,” he said. “You know, Apollo is kind of a jerk?” he said, a hint of a question at the end of it. “He was more interested in showing off to Uke Mochi than actually doing anything useful. It’s a miracle Alice will even talk to me after that misogynistic display of his. At least I was myself again after we got out of the room, though,” he sighed, taking another swig from his beer.

He had no idea who--or what--an Uke Mochi actually was, but thankfully Percy hadn’t been cursed with a lack of context clue solving skills. Besides, he certainly knew who Alice was (that cute redhead at the bakeshop with the nice set of legs and sweet smile).

“You’re finally no longer on the fence about her?” Percy decided to ask, testing the waters for Lucas’ interest level. Of course it couldn’t be anything but high, given how hard Lucas tended to crush on women, but Percy had never been one to complain about seeking out...similar hunting grounds.

Still, if the two of them were actually talking after the debacle on Halloween, Percy knew he needed to be respectful. “I mean, if she’s okay with your alter ego acting like a chauvinistic ball of sunshine, go for it,” he added with a laugh. Though saying alter ego didn’t feel quite right on his tongue. He mulled over the phrase for a moment, wondering if Apollo was the Jekyll to Lucas’ Hyde. “Do you think the mask caused you to turn into him? Or did it…” Percy flicked a bit of condensation off his beer bottle. “Give you the opportunity to become him?”

Like the weird dreams that plagued the denizens of Pax. Like the weird occurrences of heightened abilities. As if they were all becoming someone else--or becoming more their own selves. Percy had left his mask at home when he left California, but now he wondered if he shouldn’t have thrown it out beforehand.

Lucas frowned, thinking about it, “well it certainly did something to trigger the transformation,” he mused. “We were all fine until that thing pressed a button, and then,” he made a ‘poof’ hand motion and then shrugged. “It was like being electrocuted in the face, and when it was over, Apollo was in charge. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t move...all I could do was sit back and watch him act like a douchebag,” he finished with a wry grin and a roll of his eyes.

“Alice is...she’s not taking this well. We’ve kind of put any...whatever this might be between us...on hold. The whole god thing really freaked her out. I’m currently giving her some space to deal with stuff, and trying really hard to not feel jealous of her friends who are helping her out.” He usually kept such thoughts to himself, but Percy was different. He’d known him longer than anyone, and trusted him not to fuck this up for him.

More or less.

Percy nodded, not simply as was expected when offering a friendly ear, but because he could genuinely extend to his friend a sense of sympathy--if not empathy.

“Well, if she's still willing to talk to you after she's finally forgiven Apollo, you might need to be the one baking her cookies,” Percy offered, winking at Lucas and taking a short drink from his bottle, causing Lucas to chuckle. “Uke Mochi is her god…goddess, right?” He stumbled a little over the unfamiliar syllables, but pushed through regardless in a valiant effort. Lucas nodded. “Alice is probably feeling the same way you and anyone else is that was at the party. It'll be a funny story in a year, if our landlord doesn't eat everyone before then.”

“You did say it's our landlord that's a werewolf…?” He asked with as serious of a tone as he could muster. If Lucas knew more than he was telling him, Percy wanted to get it down in his mental notepad, purely for investigative purposes. “Maybe he's the one we should be talking to about all of this. I for one would like to ask him why I dream about half goat people.”

Lucas screwed up his face in thought. “I think it was our landlord,” he said, “he seemed to be in charge, at any rate. What, you think they’re responsible for these gods inside us? They somehow put them in there?” He paused to think about it, one nail scratching at the label on his beer bottle. Then he shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’d say good luck getting in touch with him. After we all changed he took off out the building, and a few residents chased after him. I’m sure their intentions weren’t exactly peaceful,” he said with a meaningful look. He didn’t see what happened thought, he - or rather Apollo - had been too busy showing off for Uke Mochi at the time.

“Maybe he is,” Percy suggested, though his tone revealed his utter lack of conviction in this statement. “But it doesn’t make any sense how he, or whoever is actually causing all of this, managed to convince each of us to move here.” Lucas looked up at that, meeting his eyes. He hadn’t considered that idea, that they’d all been lured here somehow by someone or something. But then, he had been given an offer he couldn’t refuse...

Percy’s beer was nearly half finished, and he took another drink of it. Brows set in a serious frown, he momentarily bit his tongue before deciding to finally let Lucas know what had happened to him just a couple of months before he’d gotten out of Dodge.

“You said you turned into Apollo, and he controlled you. This actually happened. Something…similar happened to me. At least, in my dreams. Or I thought it was a dream.” He smiled at the incredulity of it all, bracing himself for bringing to light something that only he and Vinnie had otherwise known. “Have you ever, in your wildest dreams, wanted to be a godparent? Because it turns out that I have a son from another life, or universe, or whatever the hell you want to call it, and he lives downstairs.”

Lucas’ eyes widened without his permission, and he sat back just a little in surprise, and maybe shock. “I…wow...” was all he could think to say. “That’s...wow. And he...you two have...discussed it?” he asked, unsure of what the proper reaction for this kind of thing should be, from either of them. “Who is he?”

“We have, although don't ask how it went,” Percy admitted with more than a slight wince. Lucas winced too, in sympathy, while Percy barely tried to hide his sheepish look. “He's...his name is Vinnie. He lives downstairs.” Percy arched his brows just a touch, studying his friend. “His god has talked to me, too. That one goes by Pan, but you won't find him in a kitchen.”

It felt like a relief saying these things, as if he'd been holding his breath for far too long. Maybe that was exactly how it felt for Lucas, too.

Lucas nodded slowly, absorbing his friend’s words. “I’ve heard of Pan...god of nature or something? Isn’t he a satyr?” And then recognition dawned on him, his mouth forming an ‘o’ of surprise. “I think I met him…” he realized aloud, trying to pull the memory out from the past. “When the floors changed...I was...well, that was back when I saw weird meaning in entrails on the floor,” he said, as if that was a completely normal thing to do. “When I met him, I had this...premonition of a goat. That must have been what it meant. Pan.” He finished his beer and reached forward to put the bottle on the coffee table.

“That, and...well, I don’t know how much you know about Hermes and Apollo...but they’re brothers. Brother,” he added with a hint of a grin, bumping Percy’s shoulder with his. “So I guess this Vinnie is technically my...god-nephew? And Apollo was a womanizing jerk, I wonder if I have kids somewhere,” he mused.

Percy’s mind flashed back to seeing Vinnie’s pupils change into vertical slits on religious-sponsored holy ground, followed by hooves replacing his human feet. He resolved to not make a joke about being born in a barn, because now wasn’t the time. Besides, that would only reflect poorly on himself.

“It’s fitting,” Percy mused, smiling back at his friend and relaxing a little. “You would end up being haunted by someone with better skills than you have.” He laughed at his own jest before finishing his beer in turn. “And I’ve always been a better runner,” Percy added thoughtfully, with no small air of achievement. “From what I’ve researched, there’s no end to the amount of stray kids wandering around in the Greek myths. But I have to wonder why we’re only now learning these things, aside from living this building.”

At first he gave Lucas a sidelong glance, then his expression quickly softened into one of sincere gratitude. He mirrored Lucas’ earlier shoulder nudge, grinning all the while. “If we have to keep learning about our alter egos’ dirty pasts, at least I get to do it with someone tolerable. Brother.”

Lucas pressed a hand to his chest in shock, though his eyes still danced with mirth. “You think I’m tolerable?” he asked with mock disbelief. “I’m...so touched...that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me…” he said, though soon he let the expression fall and he chuckled instead. “Seriously though, I’m glad we’re in this together. And if anyone is gonna be my god-brother, I’m glad it’s you.” He stood and grabbed both empty beer bottles, walking them over to the recycling box in the kitchen and then coming back out to where Percy was sitting. “Now how about we go out for more beer and some unhealthy pub food? I’m buying.”