Sons of Sparta - A Story of the Spartans, Book 3
(inspired by the story 'Spartan' parts 1 through 4)
by argouru
Note: All credit for the creation of the Spartans and Amazons, as well as the Spartan mythos belongs to the author 'CF', to whom I owe special thanks for his allowing me to write about these incredible people.
WARNING: Portions of this installment of the series includes a section regarding mental illness.
The moving of John's belongings went smoothly. Jim didn't want to keep anything of John's and had thrown it all into a pile in the corner of the living room. The Spartans weren't very happy about the way the human was acting, but said nothing and worked quickly. John didn't own very much, so the packing went fairly quickly. They couldn't help but to note the poor state of the belongings of Henry's partner as most of the things were old and worn and much of it was second hand. Clearly the man barely made enough to live on. The boxes were loaded into Daniel's van and moved to the family's house next door to the temple of Apollo, where they were stored in the attic. The guest room was made up in preparation of his moving in, although they hadn't told John that he would now be living with them until he got back on his feet financially.
"How come he's moving in with us?" Ash asked his dad Sam as they made up the guest room. "He's Henry's partner, so he should be moving in with him."
"Well," Sam replied slowly. "They still need to get to know each other. They need to date some first and let each of them get comfortable with the other before they move in together. Kind of grow into each other..." Sam's eyes lit up and a dreamy look came over his face. "Like some freakish mutant blob made of two people whose bodies slowly merge together into some unnamable horror. Then I'll be the proudest father ever to have lived."
Ash sighed quietly with disgust. His dad Sam was always like this, acting like life was one monster movie after another. After ten years, he'd learned to ignore it for the most part... Getting annoyed or trying to correct dad Sam would only make him act even worse. Ash didn't understand why Lord Apollo had accepted a wacko like dad Sam as His priest. If Ash were a god, he would've blasted some sanity into Sam long ago. He loved his birth father very much, but was very ashamed of him in times like this. It helped that the rest of the family was just as embarrassed of the man... At least Ash wasn't alone in his suffering.
"Oh!" Sam said, suddenly remembering. "Good news! I found a chainsaw that will work for you! We should be good to go once I find the sweater for Fred."
Ash groaned. "Dad Sam... Do I really have to go through with it?"
"Oh come on!" Sam pouted. "It'll be fun!"
"For you, maybe," Ash grumbled dispiritedly, dreading what was to come...
Joshua and His partners settled into their seats on the plane and got comfortable. Ahmed had been rather nervous about flying for a couple of reasons... First, he was severely afraid of heights and had to take the aisle seat of the three so as to be as far away from the windows as possible. Secondly, he had been convinced that as he was of Middle Eastern descent, he would be 'selected for a random screening' and be humiliated by airport security as they would falsely assume that he was a terrorist in disguise. Fortunately, they were let through without a fuss and boarded the plane easily. When the jet took off, Ahmed held Josh's hand so tightly he would've broken it if not for the fact that Joshua was pretty tough of body.
Tina was just the opposite. She smiled all the while, thinking that the plane trip would be a wonderful venture and kept her eyes glued out the window as the plane climbed, holding Josh's other hand as she did so. She gasped in wonder as everything got incredibly small the higher they climbed.
Josh laughed to himself at her excitement and also tried to soothe Ahmed's fears. He would've healed Ahmed of his fear if the human would let Him, but Ahmed had been adamant that Josh save His strength for John, even though Joshua could easily do both. He was pretty confident that He could help the man and was eager to see America as well.
The flight attendant came up to them timid and nervous as to be waiting on a god. "C-can I get you lot anything?" she asked in a Scottish accent that trembled with almost-fear.
"Oh," Josh said, perking up. "Do you have any of those bags of salted nuts?"
Tina turned to Him with confusion. "What do you need nuts for? You don't eat anymore."
"Just because I don't need food anymore doesn't meant I can't still enjoy it," Josh answered gently.
Ahmed, feeling calmer now, showed interest at that. "Can I get some too?"
Tina looked at them both in exasperation. They stared back at her in confusion. "Seriously?" she asked in a tone of disbelief. "We're heading all the way to another country and all you two can think about is salted nuts?"
"Well yeah," Josh answered timidly.
The flight attendant waited patiently with a nervous smile, finding the exchange humorous. "Anything else dears?"
The boys looked at Tina with raised eyebrows. She sighed. "Make it three." The attendant nodded and walked away while Josh and Ahmed smiled at her. "Oh shut it, the both of you," she said, feeling exasperated again... But not without unsuccessfully fighting off a smile. "Boys!" she muttered good-naturedly...
They landed safely and went to disembark when security stopped them. "I'm sorry, Sir," one of the men said, "But we need to perform an extra screening."
Curious, Josh reached into the man's mind and saw the real reason they were being detained... They were suspicious of Ahmed. The immortal bristled at the injustice of that. They saw Ahmed as a potential terrorist when he was a legal British citizen by birth and for them to think such a thing was incredibly rude. Josh sighed mentally and considered what to do. He could make a display of divine might, but hated making a spectacle of Himself. Instead, he decided on a tactic he'd seen in an American-made film once. Using the 'Obi-Wan' technique from that film, He reached into the two men's minds and gave a soft nudge to make them forget the idea of detaining them. This is not the Middle-Easterner you are looking for, He thought to Himself with grim humor as He manipulated the humans' minds gently.
The security man stared at them with a slightly blank expression for a moment, then blinked. "Enjoy your stay," he said with a smile.
As they walked away, Josh heard His divine father inside His head. Normally I'd disapprove of you doing something like that, but You did handle it nicely... Try not to make a habit of it, though...
I won't Dad Apollo, but that human was really out of line. I mean it's not fair to treat Ahmed like that just because of his race!
I know and I also agree with you on that. Just be careful not to get into the habit of manipulating people's minds like that. You wouldn't want anyone doing that to You, would You?
No, I wouldn't. I'll be careful, Dad Apollo. I promise. Apollo chuckled silently. What? Josh asked Him.
It's just that I like that old film as much as you do and Your Dad Gabriel makes a great Luke Skywalker, Apollo replied mirthfully.
What? Joshua asked again and got a fleeting glimpse of His Dads' bedroom at home as well as some things that probably should have stayed firmly in the private area of His divine father's mind. Dad! He exclaimed, please keep that to Yourself! There's some things I really, really don't need to see! He reflected that as much as His Dad Gabe seemed to be a bit of a prude about sex, he seemed to like dressing up and... He shut that thought down with a blush and a shudder.
Now who's the prude? Apollo laughed before letting His son know that He thoroughly approved of the way He had handled the airport security.
Joshua walked with His partners out of the airport to the car that waited to take them to the hotel. After such a long flight, Ahmed and Tina were tired and needed rest. They arrived and were shown to their room, the bellhops bringing in the humans' luggage. After they left, the trio retired to the bedroom. Josh had been expecting them to both fall asleep quickly, but Tina and Ahmed had other plans. Once they were all nude and snuggled into bed, the pair began to fondle and kiss Him.
"I thought you'd both be too tired after the flight," He said as He laid back.
"We always have time for You, Josh," Tina said softly as she licked His right nipple. "You're our partner as well as our god."
"Besides," Ahmed added. "It's been hours since You last fed properly."
"True," He said, then sighed in pleasure as His priest/partners worshipped Him. Love was Joshua's main sustenance and after experimenting, they had discovered that sex with His partners, the physical expression of their love, was the single most powerful form of feeding Joshua could experience.
Since it had been hours since His last true feeding, the humans went to work with zeal, making Him moan with pleasure. They took their time, stimulating His pleasure centers expertly. He tried in vain to return the favor, but His priests always insisted on only pleasing Him during worship, so He sighed good-naturedly and let them love Him and worship their god through sex.
Finally, He reached a loud orgasm, covering the three of them with His seed. As He orgasmed, the power of their love for Him and desire to please Him provided Joshua with a potent level of sustenance. He sighed in contentment, kissing each of them passionately before the humans fell asleep. As an immortal, Joshua needed no sleep, but laid there and held His loves with His eyes closed as they rested from the journey...
Henry was talking with John when the human's mother came into the room and stopped dead at the sight of the Spartan keeping her son company. "What are you doing here?" she asked with an edge to her voice. "Get out!"
"Who are you to tell me that I can't be here?" Henry asked, feeling deeply offended by the woman's attitude.
"I'm his mother, that's who! The last thing Barney needs right now is to be rewarded for his bad behavior!"
"Who's Barney?" Henry asked in confusion.
"My son!" the woman said, acting as though Henry was incredibly stupid.
The Spartan turned to his partner. "What's she talking about, John?"
"John? Oh not that crap again!" the mother said with annoyance and turned to the man in the bed. "Your name is Barney! I'm not allowing you to start up with this 'John' shit again! Your name is perfectly fine, so stop acting stupid!" she snapped.
"I don't like that name, Mom. I'm not a purple, child-molesting dinosaur! I like the name John better and I've already made up my mind to go and get it legally changed after my tax return next year."
"Oh no you're not!" she protested vehemently. "You even try it and I'll go to court to protest it!"
Henry's mouth fell open in shock. "You can't do that. John's twenty five and a legal adult. You have no right to force him to live with a name he hates, nor try to obstruct him from exercising his rights!" he all but shouted at the woman. "You may be one of his parents, but you don't own him!"
"Stay out of this!" she snapped. "This is family business!" The woman turned to her son. "Clearly you need more supervision. You're moving back home. To pay your way, you'll turn over your paycheck and be allotted twenty dollars per week for spending. You'll also be seeing a psychiatrist at least once a week which you'll pay for yourself. No more of this 'John' crap, either. Your name is Barney and if you don't like that then too bad! Since you're incapable of acting like an adult then I see no point in treating you as such!"
The security guard appeared at the doorway, drawn by the commotion, but Henry held up a hand to tell the man to stay back for the moment. The guard nodded in agreement, but stayed at the doorway.
"You have no right to treat him like a child simply because you don't like the choices he's made!" Henry protested in shock to the woman.
"Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that?" she countered furiously. "I'm his -mother-! Who are you, one of his fuck buddies? Mind your own damned business!"
"This is my business!" he retorted fiercely, hating the woman passionately.
"Who are you?" the human asked waspishly.
"My name is Henry Danielson and I'm his partner! If he wants to be called John, it's his business, not yours! And as for your 'gracious' offer to take him back in, well I'm not letting you move him back in with you just so you can financially bleed him dry and treat him like an unruly two-year old! He's going to live with my parents and get a stable job until he can get on his feet financially so we can live together as equals!"
"You can't talk to me like that! He needs supervision, not coddling by some deluded stranger who doesn't know the first thing about him!"
"He's my bonded partner! That's all I need to know about him! If this is the way you always treat him then no wonder he's suicidal!"
The woman marched over to the Spartan and swung her hand to slap him across the face, but he caught her wrist in his hand and flung it away. "Don't try that again!" he warned her in a dangerous tone, furious that she had tried to hit him for speaking bluntly to her.
"You dirty bastard!" she shouted with fury and kicked his shin, then went to smack him again.
Angered, Henry lashed out before the guard could reach them. "You bitch!" he swore as he smacked her across the mouth with enough force to sting without causing serious injury.
The guard grabbed the woman by the upper arms and she began to kick and scream. "LET GO OF ME!!!"
"Ma'am," the guard said with intense suffering. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"
"I'm not going anywhere!" Karen protested violently. "He's my child and I'm not going to just let him get away with murder!"
John sighed. His mother's behavior was nothing new to him. She had always treated him this way, as if he was incapable of thinking for himself or do anything right. "Technically," he said in a tired manner. "I was trying for suicide, not murder."
The woman became, if anything, even more furious. "You smug little bastard! How dare you mouth off to your own mother like that! You'll treat me respectfully, dammit!"
He glared at her and spoke bitterly. "Kind of hard to give something I myself was never given."
"You dirty little-!" she began, turning purple with rage and trying to get at him.
"Alright, lady," the guard said, starting to literally drag her away. "You're out of here."
"Fine! You want to play the 'poor pitiful me' act, then fine you worthless bastard! I never want to see you again!" With that, she was forced out of the room and down the hall, swearing profusely at the guard. "Get your hands off of me, Asshole!"
John sighed and lay back in his bed, looking more drained and sad than anything else.
"Is she always like that?" Henry asked uncertainly, staring at the empty doorway.
"Sadly, that was a pleasant day for her," John replied tiredly.
"I can see why you don't like her very much" He sighed and sat down. "It's okay... And if you'd rather be called John, then that's fine by me."
"Thanks," John said, looking grateful and trying to smile, but wasn't able to do so convincingly.
Henry took his hand and held it in silent support as John stared at his knees, looking sad that his mother was such a difficult person. He began to cry as Henry held his hand. Henry would've hugged him and held the human close, but John's injuries prevented it, so they settled for what they could get...