[LAMBERT]

I tsked, shaking my head as I took a sip of my coffee and laughed.

"Shut up, Lambert!" Diablo snapped from the other side of the room. He was raiding the bookshelves by the wall with determination. His short hair was plastered to his dark Mexican skin.

"What?" I asked in mock innocence before shrugging my shoulders. I can't believe he was even sweating over this. Well, whatever this was.

"What exactly are you looking for?" I asked Diablo as he moved to the next bookshelf. If he continued this way my library would be upside down by night-time.

"You said Zeus kept a diary while he was still living with you. Since you haven't moved, it's probably here somewhere," Diablo said, rubbing his brows in frustration.

"Isn't that called, I don't know, invading someone's privacy?" I asked in a sarcastic tone. I frowned. It was bad enough he didn't want Zeus to know he talked to me or that he even existed here in L.A., but checking his diary? That was going too far.

"I just wanted to know how Zeus felt about me, okay?" Diablo said almost choking on his words as he slipped down to the floor.

"What happened?" I asked sitting beside him on the floor abandoning my coffee cup on the reading table I had been leaning on.

"I think — I think I saw Julian," Diablo choked.

"You couldn't have..." I trailed, not knowing what to say. Of course, he could have. He worked in a fringing supermarket for God's sake.

"Blue eyes, blonde hair..." Diablo trailed, breaking into sobs.

"Don't cry," I said, rubbing his back. God, I'm too old for all this.

"And the worst part was I felt insecure, jealous. Heck, a whole lot of things," Diablo sobbed, leaning on my shoulder. I felt a sudden uneasiness. It was at times like this I wondered if Diablo was just messing with my head. How could he cry over Zeus when the one who cared about him the most was sitting right here?

Diablo sniffed his eyes closing before flicking half open again.

"Go on. I'll drop you off later," I said, smoothing out the loose curly strands from his forehead.

"Thanks," Diablo murmured smiling as his eyes flicked back closed.

I sighed. Why in the world had I promised not to tell Zeus about Diablo? His pills. I remembered sighing again. I had promised not to tell Zeus about him if he took his pills but I'm beginning to find the deal useless since he rarely took them anyway. He was suffering a bad case of depression and so was Zeus more or less. I think I was sent to stabilize depressed humans on Earth. I thought, chuckling.

God. I thought, looking down at Diablo who was now sound asleep. My expression softened in pity. He must have been over-tasking himself today. Poor guy, he was still in love with Zeus. Poor me. I thought, grimacing.

I can still remember meeting Zeus on the streets of Paris. I had wondered how such a young boy who looked obviously out of place had gotten there.

"Come with me," I had told him holding out my hand to him. He must have been roughly eighteen by then. He had stared at me as if I was some sort of rapist. I would have stared at myself like that too. I had a reason to act that way. Zeus hadn't looked like a street boy, I don't know how to explain it but he looked untainted — polished — if that makes sense.

I remembered how he had burst into tears after I had asked. "You won't want me near your house am disgusting," he had cried. I had taken him with me anyway. He didn't look like somebody who could fend for himself on the streets.

I didn't understand Zeus for the next few weeks that followed. One minute he looked composed and calm and the next minute He was crying and sobbing over some Augustus and a Kattalis and on rare occasions a Diablo.

I could remember finding him trying to pick the lock of the front door, trying to get out. I had approached with not-so-quiet steps and watched as his eyes widened in fear when he saw me.

"Where are you going?" I asked, taking hold of his shoulder.

"You won't want me here, I'm disgusting," Zeus had mumbled, his voice shaky. Why was he saying that? Why did he think he was so disgusting?

"In what way?" I asked, challenging him. He stared at me for a while before shaking his head.

"You wouldn't understand," he'd said, looking down at the floor. He looked lean and tired. His long hair was done up in a not-so-professional braid. I didn't like him looking like that a person was better off dead than suffering.

"I'll try," I said in a gentle tone. I could feel the tension on his shoulders loosen a little. In a not-so-confident voice, he began, "I've hurt a lot of people because of who I am..." he trailed, shaking his head. "No, who I was," Zeus croaked, his voice beginning to sound a bit shaky. He tried to wiggle out of my grip.

"What are you?" I asked calmly turning him to face me. Zeus had looked at me in confusion, his dark hair starting to fall out the braid from the front in a mini curtain. His bloodshot eyes from the regular crying searched mine for something I wasn't quite sure why.

"I'm a Parthoropeons and I'm a homosexual..." Zeus trailed looking me straight in the eyes daring me to say otherwise. I smiled at him before pulling him into a hug.

"You're not disgusting," I assured him. Gosh, who in the world made him think that way?

"How do you know? How am I not sure you're not just saying that?" Zeus murmured into my shoulder.

"Because I'm not disgusting," I cooed. I could almost see Zeus' eyes widen in realization. He soon started sobbing and hugged me to himself.

From then on he became somewhat of a son to me. I never asked him how he got to France. Just handed him my last name and let him move to L. A. with me. I paid for his college fees which he insisted on payback. I chuckled making Diablo shift uncomfortably in my arms. Zeus had so much pride, but I'll never tell him that or he'd freak out and start screaming about how he's not like his parents.

At the sound of steady breathing, I smiled. Diablo deserved the sleep. I got up taking Diablo with me. He clung to me refusing to stand on his feet. I chuckled and carried him bridal style out of the room. It's sad the way Diablo hasn't noticed how much I cared for him.

I had reached the guestroom. Well, it was practically Diablo's room considering how much he came over. I made the door creak open with my foot. Walking into the dark room, I balanced Diablo's weight on my left arm to put on the light switch. The room was a metallic blue adorned with Greek paintings. Zeus' idea. I thought, rolling my eyes. The kid had a knack for interior design.

"There you go," I muttered placing Diablo on the empty bed. I smiled watching him crawl under the covers. I couldn't help standing there and contemplating how cute he was.

Sighing, I finally left the room, pausing only to switch off the light. Walking up the stairs to my own room I couldn't help thinking about how I first met Diablo. He had been depressed and heartbroken. I can remember a patient being rushed to the emergency room because of the most common form of suicide attempt; slit wrists. Suicides, they were so common — are common. I thought, shaking my head. The surprising thing was what the patient had told me before the surgery.

"Please let me die," he had whispered with pleading eyes, but of course, I didn't do it. How could somebody grant such a request? A day after the surgery he woke up. He cursed and cried and was eventually sent to a physiatrist for depression-related therapy.

I never liked the way he had looked at me when he came over for his monthly checkups or tests, well, until I mentioned Zeus one day in one of my various one-sided conversations. He had burst out crying and continued all through the tests. I had felt bad and rushed the remaining tests so he could leave. Diablo cornered me outside the hospital building after my working hours a week later, asking if I had been talking about Zeus Parthoropeons. I had been caught off guard; a little puzzled by his desperate look before coming to a realization that that was Zeus' surname. I had said yes and he insisted on talking to me. I had allowed him to because one; he had looked so desperate, and two; I felt he was good-looking, and I wanted to see him again.

He had been coming over ever since and soon came to know about the relationship he and Zeus had been in. I'm probably being jealous. Okay, I am jealous and a little edgy towards Zeus at times. But I still let Diablo go on and on about Zeus — about how much he was still in love with him; because no matter how much I pretended I didn't care, I still wished I was the one he kept on talking about.

I yawned and turned in my bed. I chuckled a little. Wasn't I too old to be thinking about things like this?

I couldn't sleep, something felt out of place. I soon sighed in realization. I really had developed parental instincts. Zeus hasn't called.

[LOUIS]

Zeus has forgotten about me. He hasn't called or texted me for a whole week. What was wrong with him?

I sighed rolling on my stomach after checking my phone for the one-thousandth time this hour. It's not as if I could call him. Okay, I could, but I don't want to seem desperate. I pouted, confused at what I should do. I don't want to lose Zeus. I rolled again, burying my face into one of my feather-filled pillows. What is he doing now? What's keeping him? I don't like being ignored, but I could push it aside. I rolled my eyes at myself. I'm such a goner for Zeus' gifts.

My ears perked at the sound of my phone buzzing on the bedside table. I moved towards the edge of the bed a little to pick up the phone. The user Identity said 'private.' I frowned, answering the call anyway.

"Hello," I said into the receiver.

"Louis..." the person trailed from the other end. I sighed rolling my eyes. What the Hell?

"Leo, are you drunk?" I asked calming getting up from the bed. I walked my naked butt to the bathroom to get my bathrobe that was hanging on the bath curtain rod in all its silk glory.

"Fuck me, you always fuck him," Leonardo hiccuped through the receiver.

"You know I can't," I sighed into the receiver. What was is drinking again? I thought to myself, pulling on the bathrobe.

"Don't do that you're sexy when you're naked," Leo softly said through the receiver.

Wait, what?

"Leo, where exactly are you?" I asked, running my free hand through my hair. I was nervous and beginning to panic.

"Outside your place just looking at you, I was going home, b-but you're so beautiful," Leo whispered into the phone.

The window. I thought, turning around to find the curtains of the glass wall windows open.

"Please don't make me leave," Leo begged through the phone, his voice shaky.

"Leo..." I trailed, not really knowing what to say. What am I going to do? I wondered, beginning to shudder in confusion. Why was he always doing this? He only stayed away when Zeus was here.

You could almost say Leo was stalking me, but it's not as if I could call the cops on him. I sighed, frustrated. I'll just call a cab.

"I've fucked him before, Louis. He's not all that," Leo sobbed into the phone. I closed my eyes. I couldn't deal with this today. I couldn't deal with Leo's crying and persuasive begging tonight.

"I'm calling a cab," I stated and cut the call. God, where on earth was Zeus when you needed him?