Lovesick Gods

by Amanda Meuwissen

  “Another time, Sparky. Get your stamina up for our next date or I’ll be sorely disappointed.” A surprisingly warm hand lingered on Danny’s shoulder, and then Cho was gone.

  ß

  Later, when Andre and Lynn tracked Danny down and helped him back to the precinct, he’d sung Cho’s praises for showing such restraint, for following the rules they’d never really put in place. Surely the villainous Prometheus wasn’t all bad.

  Danny had been such a fool back then.

  “Did I see Stella on her way out?” John asked as he entered the office.

  “Nice try, Dad. I know you called her.”

  “Texted. Technically. So sue me, you got a free lunch out of the deal. Wish I could have joined you two, but I have a sad ham and cheese in plastic wrap with my name on it while we watch the surveillance. Ready to take a look?”

  Danny stared at the mountain of paperwork he still had to go through, but if they caught something more useful on the footage, it would be worth delaying the inevitable. “Sure. At least the time window’s short, right?”

  It was. Only twenty-five minutes from when the labs were locked up and the technician returned to find the place emptied. There were cameras in every room, and initial glances through the footage were done on fast-forward to see if anything jumped out at them. The first camera they checked went dark about ten minutes after the labs closed.

  “So they disabled the cameras,” John said as he rewound to before the camera went black and played it again at normal speed.

  “Seems like it,” Danny said, “but how? No one was in the room, but it looked like someone reached out from behind the camera to disable it. Which would be impossible since it’s mounted to the wall.”

  John frowned, selected another file from the computer, and opened it to watch the next camera. He sped it up to close to the time when the first camera had blacked out. It was a couple minutes later when this one did the same, but how it had been done looked identical.

  “Or from underneath?” John said. It didn’t look like an electrical surge, more like something covered the lens.

  “Or from out of the lens itself,” Danny shook his head with a laugh—that would be scary. “Maybe they had some sort of device, something too small for the cameras to pick up on when it entered the room.”

  They finished going through the other recordings. There was a definite cycle to the rooms, a pattern of one after the other, the cameras going dark with a couple minutes of leeway time in between, meaning there was likely not a dozen people involved, but nothing explained how the items had been taken from the labs in so short a time.

  Danny sighed. “Unless we get a line on something that makes sense, this has to be the work of an Elemental, which means Zeus is going to be busy.”

  “Sorry, kiddo,” John said.

  “It’s okay, Dad. Nothing I’m not used to, right?”

  ß

  Despite the long day at work, Danny looked forward to his ‘date night’ with Andre. Andre had even made walking tacos for the occasion with a crockpot and all the fixings laid out in the room they’d turned into a working kitchen, complete with mini fridge. It had originally been a dressing area that connected to the bathrooms and showers, so it sported the most outlets and had a long sink and counter space.

  Filling his plate with no less than four bags of Doritos singles, crushed up to turn the chips inside into pieces, Danny loaded them with taco filling. He’d supplied several two-liter bottles of soda to keep them going throughout the evening.

  “My mother would call sacrilege on this entire meal, just so you know,” Andre said as they settled in the main room of the morgue with their gaming laptops propped up on Andre’s work station.

  “I want your mother’s cooking in the worst way,” Danny said even as he dug into his first taco with a plastic fork.

  “Pick a night to crash family dinner, bro. My mom loves you. More than she loves me, I think.”

  The smile that had started to form on Danny’s face faltered. The mention of family dinner soured his stomach. He was glad he had an excuse to not be at home tomorrow night. Seeing Cho would be much more fulfilling than forcing small talk with Joey.

  “Let’s start with a run on the first level heist,” Andre said, tucking into his food even as he pulled up his character from GTA.

  The main game had set characters for the story mode, but the Heists co-op allowed for players to create their own characters. Andre and Danny both had avatars that basically looked like their real selves, only VaughnDamme was covered in tattoos and wore sunglasses, and NerdsDoItBetter had a T-shirt with lightning on it and a leather jacket.

  “Been way too long, man,” Andre smiled at Danny. “We need to schedule out a day like this every week—games, movies, whatever—when we know it’ll be slow on the Zeus front. We’re connected if anything comes up,” he gestured at the monitor tapped into dispatch, “and we still get to relax. Plus, Lynn needed the night off too. I told her she wasn’t allowed down here during our bro-time.”

  “And how’d she respond to that?” Danny snorted.

  “More colorfully than I care to repeat. I promised she could bro out with us next time, but I don’t think she minded missing out on Heists.”

  “I don’t know. I bet if we let her try a round with us, she’d be addicted. Why do you think I never let you invite Stella? She’d outshine both of us by the end of the first run. She has a scary knack for video games.”

  “Noted. Invite Stella next time to team up against you.”

  “Dick.”

  “Language, dude, wow, I’m offended,” Andre teased. “Prove you’re worthy to run with VaughnDamme again and let’s get this one in the bag on the first try.”

  The initial level heist was the only one they could complete with only two people. It was a bank job, split into a driver and a driller. Andre was the driller and had no trouble with his portion, but Danny may have run over a few too many pedestrians as he got used to the driving controls again. He was more of a console guy; this type of game on his laptop was tougher for him, but it was the only way he and Andre could play at the morgue. He also needed to keep a tight control over his temper and any frustration that might release his powers. The last thing he needed was to fry his computer.

  They managed to complete the mission with Danny reaching the rendezvous point by the skin of his teeth, police cars right on their tail the entire time. The rush of adrenaline the heist provided was almost like a real patrol but without the threat of anyone getting hurt. There was something very soothing about that, and Danny felt a little of the tension in his shoulders drain away as Andre pushed him in the arm with a jubilant, “Go Team Zeus, yeah!”

  “Whatever, man,” Danny said, “I almost botched the whole thing.”

  “Just wait ‘til we try the prison break one again.”

  Danny groaned. He equally loved and hated that mission. It was the one they’d done the most in the past because they failed at it as often as they succeeded so they usually had to redo it. They also needed to connect with two other online players. Although they hadn’t brought their headsets, if the others in their group had headsets, they’d still be able to listen in.

  And they did, they discovered as soon as they connected for the new mission. Danny breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out to be a husband and wife, who not only seemed to know what they were doing but weren’t annoying teenagers. They only trash-talked each other, which was actually kind of adorable.

  Danny and Andre took on the roles of fake prisoner and prison guard for the mission. This time, Danny considered it a small mercy that Andre was the one who mucked everything up. He got them so boxed in at one point, the two of them died together in a spectacular rain of gunfire.

  “Reminder: invite Stella next time to team up against you,” Danny laughed.

  Andre pulled a wounde
d face. “Hilarious. I just need a good luck charm for this one. And I know just the thing.” Leaving the mission rather than waiting for the retry counter, he abandoned the husband and wife. Danny quickly left as well, so he wouldn’t get stuck doing the mission without him.

  “Hey, what’s the deal? You know we’ll get like two twelve-year-olds next time for leaving a quality team like that.”

  “Yeah, yeah, hang on…VaughnDamme needs a makeover.”

  Danny rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could. Grabbing his paper plate while he waited, he realized he’d already eaten everything. “I need seconds. You?”

  “Top me off, good sir,” Andre said, handing over his plastic cup for more soda. “Otherwise I’m good. Not all of us are bottomless pits.”

  “And you have no idea how lucky you are,” Danny said as he traipsed out of the room. He considered getting a whole other four pack of Doritos from the kitchen but settled on just two for now.

  With careful precision, Danny balanced both his and Andre’s cups and his plate of food on the way back to the main room. He felt good. Really good. Lighter, even. His talk with Stella had left him anxious, the case for Virgil Labs even more so, but utter and complete goofing around time with Andre pushed all of that to his periphery.

  Until he returned to discover that Andre wasn’t merely changing his outfit. He was making a whole new character. One that looked suspiciously like Malcolm Cho.

  “What are you doing?” Danny asked stiffly.

  “Who better for a prison break, am I right?” Andre beamed proudly as Danny handed him his cup and sat back down. “Did I do justice to Prometheus’s stupid face or what?”

  “Too good. I might run you to the police myself instead of helping you avoid them.”

  Andre laughed.

  Danny didn’t share the humor. Andre was already finished with the character creation and was outfitting Cho with gear. He even gave him a sleeveless duster that almost looked like the real thing.

  The bile in Danny’s stomach surged up. Seeing the Cho look-a-like made him think of all the things he wanted to forget. Made him think of all the reasons he had gone to Cho in the first place. This was supposed to be his time away from all that, away from being Zeus and all the burdens that came with it.

  “Seriously, can you not?” Danny said.

  “What? Why?” Andre didn’t even turn to look at him.

  “Because I don’t feel like partnering with someone who looks like a guy I hate.”

  “You don’t hate Cho. You should. I should too. Guy’s a grade-A asshat.”

  “Yeah. He is. People are terrified of him in this city. And he likes that.”

  “Dude, you don’t have to tell me. But you still don’t hate him. It’s Prometheus. He’s a bad guy, sure, but he’s not a bad guy. Not as easy on the eyes as his sister…”

  The ever-simmering anger in Danny fueled like a slow-burning fire. He stood from his chair. “You’re defending Cho now?”

  Finally, Andre paused in his outfitting of the avatar and looked up at Danny. “I thought you were usually the one defending him.”

  “And I was wrong.”

  Pulling his hands away from his mouse and keyboard finally, Andre focused fully on Danny. “Really? Coz I know he’s a criminal and that he let you down, but he’s never actually done anything—”

  “Except lie to me and stand by while other people got hurt? While they died?”

  “And you have every right to be angry about that. I’m just saying that if any of the Elementals you’ve faced might be worth saving—”

  “It wouldn’t be Cho! He doesn’t just stand by and do nothing, Andre, he’s killed people.”

  “Yeah, serious hardened criminals,” Andre huffed in disbelief, “so sorry if I’m not losing any sleep over that. And killing is where you draw the line suddenly? Isn’t that a little hypocritical?”

  What remained of Danny’s knotted stomach fell to his toes, as a cold, empty sensation washed through him. They weren’t supposed to talk about it. They’d agreed to never talk about it.

  Andre’s expression twisted as he registered what he’d said. “I didn’t mean—”

  “So I’m a killer now and Cho’s worth saving?”

  “I didn’t call you a killer.”

  “But that’s what you think. I’m just trying to survive when none of the rules make sense anymore. Cho, if given the chance, would hurt me and use me and kill me just like any of the others. Unless I hurt him first.”

  “Wait, what—”

  “People don’t change, Andre.” Danny took a deliberate step toward his friend and, unlike the other night, this time Andre flinched as a fizzle of electricity traveled up Danny’s arm. “They just reveal who they always were.”

  As Andre stared back at him with palpable disappointment and…fear, Danny didn’t know if he meant Cho, Thanatos, or himself.

  He started to back away.

  “Danny,” Andre stood up after him, knowing too well the telltale signs of when Danny was about to use his powers, but he wasn’t fast enough to change Danny’s mind.

  Danny lightning jumped out of the morgue and stood in the alley outside the precinct to gather his thoughts. Pulling out his phone, which he’d thankfully kept in his pocket, he hit ignore when Andre tried to call him and pulled up Cho’s number instead.

  He did hate Cho. Andre didn’t know what he was talking about. Danny hated him. And he was going to prove it.

  You home?

  At the moment.

  Stay there.

  Oh? And why should I?

  I’ll be there in two minutes. I’m going to take you apart, Ice Man. Slowly.

  Chapter 8

  Mal blinked at the most recent message on his phone. Standing by the door dressed to leave, he’d been intent on going to the safe house to work on the schematics he neglected last night. This turn of events had him quickly reconsidering.

  Promptly removing his jacket, he replaced it in the closet. Pushing up his plans with Danny a night early sounded like a marvelous idea, especially with a promise like that.

  I’m going to take you apart, Ice Man. Slowly.

  Looking forward to it, Mal texted back.

  Unexpected nerves fluttered through his stomach. Damn Dom for making him second guess this. Mal could worry about the heist later. He could worry about everything else later.

  Knock. Knock. Two minutes indeed. Danny must have lightning jumped to reach him.

  Mal opened the door with a smug grin. “Impatient as always I s—”

  A flicker of lightning was his only warning as Danny rushed him, and Mal had barely enough time to note that the younger man had on a T-shirt and no jacket before the door slammed shut. His mind went blank at the sudden presence of Danny’s intruding tongue, hands around his back, one already up the back of his sweater.

  Mal’s breath caught, swallowing down his heightened sense of fight or flight and shaking off the urge to summon ice over his skin like a shield. Sudden touch, harsh, demanding like this, being held in place—it always had him on alert for something else.

  But no violence followed. No pain. Danny kissed him and kneaded the small of his back with long, powerful fingers. He would never hurt Mal outside a fight between hero and villain. He was just starved for touch, and Mal could accommodate.

  “Where’s the bedroom?” Danny spoke against his lips, still pulling at them with sharp nips.

  Mal got over his shock and reached for Danny, squeezing the other man’s hips possessively. “Upstairs.”

  Vertigo seized Mal, as well as the sensation of freefalling, of his stomach plummeting. Then his back hit his comforter, the view of Olympus City out his window glittering down at him. Danny had lightning jumped again. Mal knew firsthand that he couldn’t keep that up for long. Hovering over Mal as he straddled him, h
e looked wild and windblown and hungry.

  He kissed Mal, the dull edge of fingernails scraping along Mal’s stomach, pushing his sweater up, up, where it was easier to see his scars.

  No. Mal was fine—he was fine. Better than fine with his nemesis atop him. He just hoped Danny didn’t ask, though if he’d ever looked in depth through Mal’s police records, which he likely had, he already knew that most of Mal’s scars were from one man.

  But Danny didn’t seem to care about the change in texture of scar tissue beneath his fingers. He wedged a knee between Mal’s legs, straddled his thigh, and ground forward.

  “Shit, Sparky…slow down,” Mal gasped, gripping Danny by the shoulders and holding him in place. Danny’s face looked instantly betrayed, even angry. The last thing Mal wanted was for him to think he wasn’t interested. Rocking up against Danny with a languid roll of his hips, he reassured him, “Isn’t that what you promised me? Slow.”

  Danny’s fierceness remained but the shade of anger vanished in favor of a crooked grin. “Yeah,” he said, bending to kiss Mal with an unhurried, deep probe of his tongue. “Yeah…” he said again, echoing the roll of Mal’s hips. “So slow, Ice Man. You have no idea. I’m gonna ruin you for everybody else.” Pupils blown when he pulled away, his eyes looked almost black. “No one will ever be as good as what I’m going to do to you.”

  A fresh shiver swept through Mal’s body. “Promises, promises…”

  Danny’s wicked grin was everything Mal had ever wanted of him—all his, in his bed, in his arms, no accompanying speech about goodness. Seemed Zeus wanted to skirt the line of being bad instead.

  Hands returning to pushing Mal’s sweater up his stomach, Danny didn’t yet attempt to remove it. Instead he kissed Mal low, just above his beltline, then trailed his tongue up to Mal’s navel and licked around the rim. He didn’t pause at the scars he encountered; he kissed or licked them all the same.

  Danny moved to Mal’s nipple and bit down hard enough to make him hiss, then licked there too, a contrasting balm, before doing the same to the other side. Finally, he tugged the sweater from Mal’s arms, over his head, and tossed it away so he could better kiss Mal’s collarbone and neck.