Are You...Okay?

The son of Aphrodite, Narcissus Bastion got up early to go for his morning jogs. Usually he wouldn't go two days in a row, but he started to notice a little bit of love handles forming. That just wouldn't do for Narc; he had to keep his body in shape. After snapping his fingers, he magically changed out of his pajama pants and into a white tank top, light blue running shorts, and his white running shoes. Narc then went to take care of his hygiene and headed out the door.

As he ran passed the arenas, he noticed someone that looked very, very familiar. "Duggie,,,?" He said mostly to himself just incase he was wrong. Narcissus decided to come closer until he was able to see his face. Yep, it was Douglas and he didn't look happy. You could tell by the growing pile of shredded dummies and the pissed off look on his face. "Hey, baby. Are you okay?"

douglas feels like sh!t today. he curses loudly and slashes down another time with his celestial bronze blade, letting his wrist twirl around in mid air, barbarically massacring the leather dummies. a muscle jumped in his jaw and he narrowed his eyes, breathing hard and fast, continuing and continuing until it became routine. his eyes fix the next dummy, unblinking and wary, and he knocks it down with the butt of his sword, impaling it in the head with a quick stroke. he was in his element, hacking and ripping things apart.

he feels like he's swimming in a haze of dark fog; nothing really matters. nothing. nothing matters. he thinks. douglas york feels trapped in his body; and even though his life could be no better now, he feels like he's drowning. not even he knows why, it just came like a wave of foreboding. he has it sometimes, if not a lot of times, the bloodlust he feels could be similar to a hungry wolf. douglas wants to rip everything limb from limb, he needs to see pain, he needs-

a voice calls out from beyond the haze, and douglas lets his sword droop to his long legs. he paws at his dark eyes, almost as if trying to conceal the dark shadows under them. his dark hair is tousled, and everything he's wearing is black and ripped, like usual. he cracks his thin fingers, trying to reduce the numbness in them, hissing as he does so. douglas turns around and clenches his weapon tighter in his clammy, pale hand, gritting his teeth. of course he had to be here. of course. out of all people; narcissus. douglas wasn't in the mood for telling him to go away. he loves narc, of course he does, but sometimes the people you love are the people you least want to see. and in this case douglas didn't want narcissus to see him like this. his eyes are wild and red at the whites, and he looks like a madman.

douglas slowly prowls towards his boyfriend, eyeing him suspiciously. he clears his throat and silently puts his sword on the bench beside him. "what're you doing here?" he asks, forcing his voice into something of an attempt of swagger, however it comes out hoarse and ruined, yet still in it's original sarcastic, drawly voice. he looks at narc from the corner of his eye, raising his eyebrows.

Narcissus took a step back when he noticed that his eyes were the color of blood which, for Narc, was never a good thing. He ran his manicured hand through his dirty blonde hair nervously. He didn't have a reason to be nervous, though. He knew that they both loved each other. "Well I usually go for my morning jogs before everyone gets up and..." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "How long have you been up? You don't look to good." Narc took a few cautious steps toward him before taking a seat on the bench where the sword was.

douglas shrugs half-heartedly and gives narcissus a crooked smirk. "half past two in the morning i got up to... well, you can see for what i got up for." douglas looks away pointedly and stares at one of the old, tall trees by the side of the arena. "i know you go for morning jogs...", he mutters, "i know almost everything about you, since you tell me." he gives a bark-like laugh and shakes his head with laughter. he swings his sword a couple of times in a wide arc. "anyways, usually my appearance is appealing to you? i guess now that i look like a guy who ran from an asylum, you're not too keen in me, eh, narc?" douglas sneers, showing his white, sharp teeth.

"You shouldn't do that, Duggie. You need your sleep." He said in a concerned, whiney voice. Narcissus followed his stare, looking at the trees. "Oh, right. I forgot." He chuckled some before continuing. "Almost everything. There's still some things that you don't need to know quite yet about me." The younger demigod purred with a wink. The laugh was a bit off putting, he'd have to get used to that. Narc watched him swing his sword, wishing he could do that. He was too afraid of ruining his almost perfect body. "Actually it looks pretty badass." With that, he stood up and wrapped his arms around his neck. "It just took me by surprise, Predator."

douglas rolls his eyes. "good riddance, narc, you know i barely ever sleep, since you stay up with me sometimes." he resists the urge to wink, and sits down on the bench beside him. he scratches his head and fumbles with his sneakers and the loops on his jeans for a bit, before turning his head towards narcissus, smiling. it felt good to calm down, to let some of the bottled up anger slowly escape him, like the fizz in a glass of soda. "well, anyways, now that you mention it, it would be nice to catch some sleep, but honestly, i'll just do it this afternoon, there's no hurry, really, is there-" douglas breaks off, shaking his head. "narc, i've been thinking- and oh sh!t, this is so cheesy, but- i'm not sure i can stand this whole secret-boyfriends thing! no one knows i'm bi, narc, and what would they think if they found out? i mean, look at me, it would totally ruin my reputation- not that i would care," he adds quickly, rambling on. "but... i'm so damn stressed right now and i'm not feeling well at the moment, like there's so much stuff to live up to, and all these people think i'm so tough, which i am of course," he pouts, not being able to resist, "and i don't know if i can do all of this at once!"

douglas scowls and draws patterns in the sandy ground with his sword, leaning his head on one arm on his left knee. "you're gonna have to choose, narc, because i don't think that your cabinmates," he spits onto the ground and treads on the place where the spit lands, screwing up his nose at the thought of his boyfriends brothers and sisters, and carries on quickly, still in the drowsy, rambling, fast tones as before, "would approve of someone like me i mean, i'm a freak to them, narc, i'm such a freak!" he stands up and kicks the tree, not even wincing as he hits his toes on the hard wood. he walks back to the other boy glumly, his fists clenched. "i love you, though, so don't get all mad at me, because you know it's rare for me to admit it." he says, frowning, and for the tiniest of seconds douglas feels his cheeks warming, but douglas acts as if it was a violent cough coming on, so he coughs into his fist nervously.

The seventeen year old demigod blushed, biting his lip. "That's true, that's true. Like I said, I forgot." He started to play with his hair, running his hands through it every so often. "Sleeping this afternoon would be good. Maybe I could come over and take a little beauty nap with you...what's wrong?" He asked Douglas when he shook his head. Had he said something wrong to him? Then it was revealed what was eating a way at him. Narcissus shifted on the bench, frowning and fearing the worse. "Wait, wait! What are you saying? Ar-Are you breaking up with me?!" Narc was most likely overreacting. "So just tell people that your bisexual! I'm sure some people already know!" He exclaimed in a whiney voice. "Please don't break up with me. Don't...don't leave me, Douglas. I'll be a better boyfriend, I swear."

Narcissus just stared at him, trying to think of what to say to him. "What am I choosing? You or my siblings? They don't care if you are a freak! You're a bad boy, Douggie! They're gonna like you! More than what I would like them to! Maybe if you just meet a handful of them, Cleopatra, Emily, Aiden, and some others...you'll see! You just have to give them a chance." He got up when his boyfriend did and wrapped his arms around his torso, hiding his face in the crook of his neck. "I love you too...so you're not breaking up with me? Just to be clear."

douglas looked away from him, waiting for the hug to end. "i'm happier with you than with anyone else," he murmurs quietly. "but i'm not sure if i want to meet your siblings." he pulls away from narcissus' hug, picking up his sword and going back to the dummies, putting up another set to hack apart. he feels the tingling in his fingers he always gets when he's nervous, and the pins and needles creep down his spine, down to his legs and feet. he clenches his fists tightly and begins to slash at the dummies again, grunting with every hit.

"i'm not breaking up with- well, i- i don't know," he adds quickly. "i mean, it's not like we're going to end up married or something- unless you want to get married, which i guess would be fine- i mean not that i want- you get the point, don't you?" douglas asks hastily, looking around nervously. "listen," he says eagerly, "can i try something?" douglas has been waiting to try this for ages on narc- if he could show him a hallucination of them marrying, would it work? douglas doubted it, but honestly; why not try?