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.
They couldn't resist being sexual in the morning, though, unable to resist their cases of morning wood, yet still sticking with mutual masturbation. Anything more intimate would require more time and privacy that they could get here at the house and time to work towards becoming loose enough to avoid severe pain for John. They showered and ate breakfast with the family, Fred casting sly glances at them from time to time. After that, it was time to head to their respective jobs and Steven and Fred to school, while Ash and Will went to do their home schooling lessons. Henry left reluctantly, but promised to come over on Friday night and also invited John to come spend the night on Saturday, which the human eagerly agreed to.
Once he was gone, John's heart aching to see him leave, he got dressed in the plain tan robe that was the standard uniform for temple employees who weren't priests, the priests wearing robes of white, and met Sam out on the front porch. The human yawned hugely as he reached his father-in-law's side. "Long night?" the Spartan teased gently with a grin.
"No," John replied simply. "We went to sleep quickly, but fooled around some this morning before we got up for the day. If we had done it last night, I'd have never gotten enough sleep and would be dead on my feet right now. I wouldn't have minded, though... The great thing about zombie sex is that you can always make more holes to fuck."
"Wh-h-h-ha-ha-ha-t-t-t-t?!?" Sam exclaimed in shocked amusement, laughing so hard he could barely speak. He took several moments of laughing before he could recover and speak properly again. "Ah John," he said with a grin, placing a fatherly arm around the human's shoulders. "We're going to get along just great as in-laws!"
With a smile, he led the way to the side entrance to the temple...
Working at the temple was an interesting, yet pleasant, experience. Everyone was polite and respectful towards him. He was surprised to learn that nearly half of the temple staff was comprised of Spartans or human men who were bonded to a Spartan. There were some women, both human and Amazon, as well but nowhere near as many as there were of men. Sam soon put John in the care of a Spartan man named Walter, who he explained was the secondary priest under Sam himself, who was head of staff.
"Right then," Walter said, surprising John with his British accent. "Are you a worshipper of Lord Apollo?"
"I came here a few times recently... Before the... Accident," John said timidly, too embarrassed to admit what had truly happened.
"Yes," Walter said sympathetically, then sighed. "I feel it's only right to tell you that I and the rest of the upper clergy know your circumstances."
"How?" John asked, feeling shocked and wondering if every single last fucking person on the whole damned planet knew about him by now.
"The Head Priest took the senior priesthood and senior staff into private meeting and told us. He felt it would be better for us to know should any difficulties arise and rumors persist. But we practice discretion and won't banter on about your past. We're not the sort to gossip."
"Alright," John said, feeling uncomfortable and not very reassured. "Well, I'm not really all that active," John lied. In truth, although he had gone through the motions before, he had never truly worshipped at all. He still wasn't sure if he should or not. He wanted to be able to worship because he wanted to, not just because he felt like he owed the god, even though he did. It was that if he were in the god's position, he would want to be worshipped because the person in question wanted to, not out of a sense of obligation. To do otherwise would be insulting and John was still sorting out his feelings on that.
"Now then, the chain of authority goes like this: Lord Apollo, obviously, then Head Priest Sam Apolloson, then myself as Secondary Priest Walter Samson (no relation to Sam or his sons, mind you), Then Ranking Priest Nathan Connerson - Spartan and Ranking Priestess Leanne Sheihook - Amazon, then my partner Dennis Makenridge - human, who serves as head of public relations for the temple, Keith Williamson - Spartan, who is head of security, the rest of the priesthood and the head cook Trevor Smithe - human, as well as the rest of the staff, including you, report to us.
"Now, we need to see what type of skills you have, so for the meanwhile, we'll have you act the role of general assistance, which means that you basically help out wherever extra assistance is required. As a member of the temple staff, you'll have to undergo some weapons training should any difficulties arise. The head Priest prefers all temple staff who have the talent for it to have at least minimal training with swords, so Kevin will work with you an hour each day until you're proficient with a blade."
John kind of liked the idea of learning swordsmanship and brightened somewhat at that.
"For now, however, let's set you up helping in the kitchen," Walter said, leading the way into the hallway off the side of the main entrance. As he went, the Spartan gave John the tour of the temple, stopping finally at the kitchen. "Kevin? I'd like you to meet John Williams - human, who's joining the temple staff today. Kevin Mitchellson is a Spartan who is filling in as head cook while Trevor is out tending to his gestating partner."
"Nice to meet you," the blonde-haired Spartan said, shaking his hand firmly, John returning the greeting awkwardly from not being used to meeting people. "Good, we've been a bit short on hands ever since Jane retired and Kelso moved to Texas," the man said with a smile.
"Yes, I figured this would be a good starting place for John and you'll need the extra help for tonight," Walter said, looking suddenly solemn.
"Yeah," Kevin said, his smile faltering, then he forced it back into place with a nervous air and looked to John. "You know anything about cooking?" he asked.
John shook his head. "Just the bare basics," he admitted weakly.
"Not to worry, you'll pick it up. We'll start you off slowly," the Spartan said kindly.
"Dad Walter, there you are!" a boy said from the doorway.
"Ah, John, I'd like you to meet my youngest son Dennis Junior. Jr., this is John Williams - human, Henry's partner."
The boy looked confused. "But I thought Uncle Henry d-"
"What do you want, Jr.?" Walter interrupted quickly, cutting off the lad's protest when he realized what the boy had been about to say.
"I need help with my English lesson. Since you're English too, I thought you'd be the best person to ask for help."
Walter sighed. "Son, the English language and English people are two entirely different things," he said tiredly. "I thought you understood that well enough by now."
"Sorry," the small boy said, hanging his head.
"Go to my office and I'll be there shortly," the father instructed gently and the boy left without another word.
"Right then," Walter said with a forced smile which John didn't understand the reason for. "I'll be off. You know where my office is should you have any concerns." With a nod, the Brit left john in the care of the kitchen staff.
"Okay," Kevin said. "We'll have you start simply with peeling potatoes, but first, we'll need some supplies. Hey Ralph," he called out.
"Yeah?" a tall, redheaded man who looked Spartan said, looking at them with interest.
"We need potatoes and cooking oil for the fryers. Help John here get the stuff."
The man walked over and shock John's hand in a near bone-cracking grip. The human winced from the Spartan's strength, but said nothing. "Nice to meet you," he said. "You Henry's partner?"
"Yeah," John answered, trying hard not to cradle his stinging hand.
"Nice to meet you. My dads say I should get to know humans more, so that's why they had me come work here. They wanted to be closer to the temple anyways."
"Get to know humans?" John asked, starting to follow Ralph out of the kitchen.
"Yep, my dads are both Spartan and we lived and worked with other Spartans, mostly, so I'm not that familiar with humans like you." They reached the supply room. "You grab the oil, I'll get the potatoes, okay?"
"Sure," John said, as the Spartan grabbed several sacks of spuds. "How much oil will we need?" he asked.
"Just grab a whole case," Ralph said casually.
John bent his knees, took the case of gallon jugs of cooking oil and lifted... Or tried to, at least. The case weighed a ton! He struggled, but could barely lift it. Gasping with effort, he could barely raise it an inch before he had to drop it.
"Come on," the Spartan said. "Quit goofing around and pick it up."
"I can't," John panted. "It's way too heavy!"
"Come on!" Ralph scoffed. "It can't be more than a hundred pounds at most!"
The human stared at him in shock. "I can't lift that much!" he protested, stunned by the Spartan's attitude. "What are you? Crazy?"
Ralph sighed explosively. "How weak are you? Alright fine! I'll get the oil, you get the potatoes!" Rolling his eyes with disgust, the Spartan easily lifted the case of oil and left the store room, shaking his head sadly at the human's weakness.
Fuming with shame, resentment and jealousy, John grabbed as many sacks of potatoes as he could possibly lift and followed the man with extreme difficulty, sweating and grunting with effort, determined not to let the Spartan show him up too much...
That afternoon, Keith took John to the armory and into a small practice area at the back. "Now," he said, "What, if any, martial arts training have you had?"
"None, really, but I watch lots of action movies and like playing fighting video games," John said helpfully.
The Spartan's face fell. "I hate to break it to you, but a real fight is nothing like what you see in the movies and games. A real fight is fast, ugly, brutal and usually over in seconds. Sorry, but it's obvious that you don't know the first thing about fighting."
"I can take care of myself!" the human protested, resenting the Spartan's smug tone and not realizing the patronization of his instructor was purely the product of his wounded ego.
"Really?" Keith said with interest. "Alright then... Put your money where your mouth is."
"What?" John asked, taken aback.
"Try to hit me," Keith said. John hesitated. "Well come on," Keith added, getting slightly impatient.
John saw that the man was serious, so readied himself. I should make myself as small a target as possible, he thought. Make it as hard for him to hit me as possible. But which way should I face? he debated. I should have my stronger side to him. If he's right and fights end quickly, I should have my stronger side to him.
Keith watched the wheels in the human's head turning. Good, he's thinking this through. The human turned to his left, then made a fast quick jab. Keith blocked the blow easily, but was surprised at both the human's speed and at his innate knowledge of understanding the concept of not telegraphing his blow. John struck a few more times, making fast motions with his fist and not keeping his arm in any one place for long. Good, he knows that I might try to grab his fist or arm as he strikes and is compensating for it. Pity his stance is so sloppy, but we can work on that well enough...
He let the human try for several minutes, using his superior reflexes to evade the blows easily, but only thanks to his Spartan-borne battle skills and instincts. If he had been human, John would've struck him several times by now and he'd be much the worse for wear from the human's blows. He favors his right side far too much, though. Clearly he's obsessively right handed. I'll have to break him of that habit... It's a real liability. He saw John starting to get frustrated, yet trying hard not to show it. Remembering what he had been told about the man's past, Keith called a halt before the human's pride became too battered. He decided to be kindly, rather than cruel as he was to the more cocky-minded of his students. He could tell that John was both hurt and mad at himself for not landing a single blow. Better he learns that nothing is fair in a fight now, though. A false sense of pride and success could get him killed when he underestimates someone.
"Not too bad," he admitted. "I've trained worse. We'll start you off with a more serious lesson tomorrow, but for now, let me show you what you could've done better."
He then showed the human how to adjust his stance for better stability and showed him the best places to attack a person. An hour later, he felt that John had the makings of a great warrior... He certainly had the instincts of one. He sent the man on his way, worried slightly at the curt tone of the man's voice.
John walked away, feeling very bitter inside. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't lay a finger on him... Man I suck at fighting. I must look like a real idiot to him. Maybe Ralph is right... I am a weakling...
He remained in low spirits for the rest of the day, horribly disappointed with himself at his dismal performance...
The next day, Henry stood in the department store, wincing at the price tag. Why do these things have to be so damned expensive? He wondered, laying down and noticing that his feet were left dangling off the end of the item in question. Not to mention short! Who do they build these things for, anyways? Midgets? He sat up and looked around, but all of the beds were of the same length. He sighed with disappointment. I wish someone would design beds with Spartans in mind. Not to mention tall humans.
He got the help of a sales associate, opened a credit account and purchased the bed. Fortunately, he was able to snag a delivery time for the following evening. He walked back out to the car, then stopped and glanced at it, seeing it for the first time in a long time. I guess I should trade this in, he thought, looking at his Mini Excel, which was a two-seater glorified attempt at a cross between a hatchback and a sports car. There's no way we can fit a baby seat in there safely.
He snorted with reluctant humor. He had styled his life in the attempt to remain a bachelor forever. Yes, that worked out lovely, didn't it? he thought to himself sarcastically. Now he was automatically planning for his future with his partner and their sons to be. Assuming all goes well, of course. He had to be practical. There was no guarantee that his sons would be alright until the last week of gestation. Well, the Mini has always been a pain to keep up anyways. If it wasn't for the good gas mileage I'd have dumped it long ago. Well... Maybe I should hold off awhile. John's still getting used to me and I don't want to look like I'm practically forcing the sperm right out of him. I mean I'm not even Emergent yet!
Sighing, he got in and headed back to work as his lunch hour was almost up...
John entered the altar room nervously, feeling horribly vulnerable as he strode nude into the room. Never having felt that he was much to look at, he felt rather ashamed of being nude in front of everyone. The loaned sword strapped to his hip felt incredibly awkward to him and knowing that the blade inside the scabbard was as sharp as a fresh razor did nothing to ease his nervousness.
"You alright?" Nathan, the third ranking priest of the temple asked, his long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a frown of worry in his goatee covered face as he asked the human about his nervousness.
"I'm... Fine," John answered nervously.
"Don't worry," Nathan said with a kindly smile. "You don't have to do anything except say the responses, draw the sword and kneel. I'll walk you through the motions and signal you silently when it's time, okay?" John nodded silently, not looking very reassured. "Are you alright with taking part in a service?" Nathan continued nervously. "I know you're not Apolline."
"It's no big deal," John said with a self-conscious shrug. "I'm not really one for religion..."
"But you work in a temple," Nathan teased with a grin of amusement.
"Like I said, religion is no big deal," John said again.
"But..." Nathan said lowly, shocked by the human's behavior. "Lord Apollo helped you! He brought His son Lord Joshua all the way here from England just to heal you! Don't tell me you don't believe in Him after all He's done for you!"
"I do believe in Him," John replied. "It's just that I'm not sure if I want to worship Him... Or any god, for that matter."
"Why not?" Nathan asked sadly.
John's gaze lowered to the floor. "I'm used to being on my own," he said solemnly.
Nathan felt pity at the deeply buried pain in John's voice and changed subjects slightly. "Are you alright in being a part of this, though?"
John looked up as the first of three bulls was moved into the altar room from the back entrance and placed at the altar, its eyes drooping heavily. "What's wrong with it?" he asked Nathan. "It looks like it's out of it."
"We drug the beasts beforehand so that they don't suffer. Our lord is sustained by lives taken or given in His name, not in their suffering."
"What do you mean by 'given'?"
"Head Priest Sam gave his own life to Lord Apollo for the sakes of his partner and their son Henry. He sacrificed himself for them. That death nourished our god and in return, Lord Apollo gave him back his life that he could be here for his family. We would never sacrifice a human or fellow Spartan or even an Amazon to our lord, only animals... But the sacrificing of a person, especially one that is done by the choice of the one whose life ends, is the single most powerful form of nourishment Lord Apollo can receive. But it is a grim and rare thing, as well as one we would never do," Nathan said, not wanting to upset the human by admitting the possibility of such a thing during Rites of Confirmation, even if it had been permitted for him to speak of such a thing to one who knew nothing of the Rite itself.
"I wouldn't want to be charged with murder either," John said thoughtfully.
"It's not that," Nathan said, giving the human a serious look.
"Then what is it?" John asked, feeling confused.
"Lord Apollo is fed by death, but He also values life. He is a warrior who would cut down His enemies in battle, but for the life of a person to end is a very grave thing... Something that Lord Apollo acknowledges. He never takes death lightly when it’s the life of a person that ends."
John nodded, taking that in. "Is there anything else I need to know before the Rite gets started?"
"Just make sure you've prepared yourself for this mentally. There's going to be a LOT of blood!"
John wasn't too worried and took part in the worship, although he didn't actually pray with everyone else, but rather knelt silently while the others prayed. Fortunately, he was able to use the sword properly without hacking himself to pieces by accident. When Sam's swords ended the life of the bull by slitting the beast's throat and simultaneously piercing its heart, he blanched at the vast amount of blood gushed forth, covering the head priest. He turned to the worshippers, covered in the dark fluid that had been the beast's lifeblood and for the first time, John was scared of the man.
Whatever I do, I don't ever dare make him mad! John stood there, staring at his father-in-law, for lack of a better term, and trying hard not to tremble with fear...
By the end of the week, John no longer knew how to feel. Part of him truly loved working at the temple, but being surrounded by beings who were so much better than him made the human feel resentful. He chided himself, feeling ashamed. It wasn't the Spartans' fault he was so inferior. Feeling uncertain, he decided there was only one thing he could really do. He began to work in suppressing his inadequacy as much as possible in hopes that he could learn to fake being ordinary around the Spartans without making them uncomfortable or coming off as a bigot, which was the last thing he wanted to be.
What was more, he didn't want to hurt Henry's feelings, not to mention those of his hosts... My new family, I guess, he thought, feeling even more guilty that he wasn't more grateful to the people who had taken him in, even if they were obligated to do so because he was bonded to a member of their family. He then felt ashamed of that thought too, knowing it wasn't the truth. What's wrong with me? I'm cured of my depression. I no longer hit myself and I don't have attacks anymore. So why do I still treat myself like shit? This is my life now and I'll just have to try to enjoy it. I've got a stable home, a decent job, people who treat me nice and a great guy who loves me, so why am I acting like something's still missing? He sighed with disgust at his behavior and tried to throttle down his negative feelings.
The one thing that made him feel better was knowing how much Henry loved him. Even now, he could feel that love for the man who he was bonded to infused into every fiber of his being. For Henry's sake he had to get control of himself and not let his inadequacy overpower him. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt the feelings of the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Henry deserved better than that.
John was eagerly awaiting Henry, his overnight bag packed, and he found himself pacing the living room nervously, eagerly looking out the window every time he heard a car engine. Sam and Daniel watched him with knowing smiles from the kitchen doorway, seeing the obvious sign of a very strong partner-bond in the man's behavior.
Suddenly, a condom package bounced off of John's head, making the human look up the stairs from where it had come, frowning with annoyance as he rubbed his head self-consciously. Seeing this, Daniel snarled in rage and charged up the back stairs. Footsteps of someone running came through the ceiling, accompanied by hard, rapid footsteps and Daniel pounding on a wooden door. "Open this door right now, Fred!" Daniel bellowed.
"I was only joking," Fred's muffled voice answered.
"I said open this door!" Daniel shouted. A moment later, the crashing of wood heralded the older man literally breaking in the door to get at his son.
Hearing this, John began to panic, flashbacks to his mother and her boyfriend fighting, screaming and breaking things came back to him. This was far worse, however. He was still new here and if the Spartans decided to attack him, the human knew he'd stand no chance at all in protecting himself from them. He backed into a corner instinctively, turning pale and beginning to tremble violently in terror.
"A joke is only funny a few times!" Daniel shouted at his son. "It's not funny when you torment people relentlessly with it! Knock it off already, Dammit!"
Sam looked up at the ceiling with a sigh of suffering. Daniel had been having a stressful week at work and clearly hadn't been meditating enough. Sam sighed and went to apologize to John, but was shocked when he finally noticed the state the human was in. "John?" he asked in shock, seeing the man nearly catatonic with fear. "John? John? Hey! Hey, take it easy! Nothing bad is going to happen!" he said, holding out a hand in pleading and edging his way towards the man slowly with a look of deepest pity on his face. "John... Don’t be scared, okay? We won't hurt you." John looked at the Spartan like a deer caught in headlights. "Damn... Daniel!" he shouted up the stairs. "Stop shouting this instant!"
"What?!?" Daniel shouted back furiously, coming out to the top of the stairs. "Look! I'm tired of that boy going on and on-!"
"Be quiet!" Sam said, pointing at John.
Daniel turned angrily to the human and was shocked speechless at the look of terror the human was giving him. Suddenly, his fury turned to horror and he rapidly descended the stairs. "John? No, no, no, don't be scared! I'm sorry," he said, holding out his hands pleadingly. "I'm sorry if I frightened you. Honestly... Look, I'm sorry. I've had a bad week at work and haven't been meditating enough to control my instincts. John, I'd never hurt my children. I took out all of my anger on the door only. I could never live with myself if I hurt my children. We're family. I love my family and would never hurt them no matter how much they piss me off."
John shook his head. "Families always hurt each other," he said, shaking his head. "All they ever do is scream and hate and break things," he forced out in a trembling voice.
"No, John, no," Daniel said gently, grief choking his words. "We aren't like this all the time. We aren't like those horrible people who beat you all the time." He stopped as John shook his head sadly. "What? What is it?"
"They never actually beat me," the human said softly. "They beat each other up, but every time they did, I either hid or escaped from the house until it was safe. I knew I wouldn't be strong enough to protect myself, so I avoided them as much as I could in those times. The only times I was ever hit was spankings when I did something I knew was wrong. I wasn't ever physically abused. They only said hateful things to me. I never gave them a chance to do anything physical."
"But still," Daniel said. "I never meant to scare you... We're not like those horrible people you grew up with, I promise. I would never actually hit my children no matter how angry I get. Each of my children, whether borne of me or of Sam, are the most precious things in my life. Children are too special to us to ever hurt them. I was only screaming and broke his door, but I'd never ever get violent with Fred no matter what."
"It's true, John," Fred said, coming down the stairs and looking horribly guilty at seeing the slowly fading terror of his brother-in-law. "I know I've been pushing it, but I'm only doing so because I'm jealous of you and Henry. Besides, I actually want you guys to enjoy being together, so that's why I'm always forcing condoms off on you guys. It's half joke and half wanting you guys to be safe and happy together."
"I'd still like to know where you're getting all of these from," Sam said grimly to his son, picking the package up off the floor. "The Ramrod?" Sam said with shock, reading the advertisement on the condom wrapper. "And what are you doing in a leather bar? You're not legal to go into bars until you're eighteen and you know it! Up to your room right now, Fred! You're grounded!"
"But Dad Sam-" Fred protested.
"I said now, Mister!" Sam said fiercely. Sulking, Fred trudged his way back up the stairs. "And someone clearly has been skipping his daily meditations to control his warrior's instincts!" Sam added testily to his partner.
"You're right," Daniel said in shame. "I'll go meditate now... John," he said, turning to his son-in-law. "I am so, so sorry that I scared you. Please don't be afraid of me, not ever. Please?" he begged with tears in his eyes.
John, seeing the Spartan's sincerity, nodded, unable to speak.
"Have fun at Henry's. And know that no matter what none of us will ever hurt you." With that, Daniel headed up the stairs shamefully.
Just then, the sound of Henry's car pulling into the driveway came, lightening John's mood slightly and easing his fear somewhat. Henry let himself into the house a few moments later to see the man he loved looking pale. "John? What happened? Are you okay?" He said, taking his love into his strong arms and holding him tightly without hurting him. "What's wrong?"
Sam explained the situation as Henry held John close. "John?" Henry said. "You don't have to come over if you don't want to. Don't feel obligated, especially under the circumstances." He really wanted John to spend the weekend with him and hated the idea of John not wanting to be around him, but wouldn't make his partner stay at his place if the human was too scared to be alone with him.
"No," he answered softly. "I'll come over." He started feeling safer in his partner's arms, then began to feel slightly resentful that he needed protecting. He was a man and therefore should be able to take care of himself. He buried that down quickly inside of himself to avoid hurting Henry's feelings.
"John," Sam added. "Please don't think that this was anything more than an isolated incident. We're really not like that all the time. This is the first and only time it has ever happened. It WILL NOT happen again, I promise you. Please don't hold this against any of us."
John could only nod silently. He left with Henry soon afterwards, the Spartan holding him close all the way to his apartment until John began to calm down and relax.
John went to the couch and set his bag down. "Got any blankets and an extra pillow?" he asked softly.
"You don't... Want to sleep with me?" Henry asked, feeling hurt by that.
"Your bed's way too small for both of us," John said. "I refuse to boot you out of it."
Henry smiled with understanding. "Come on, I want to show you something." He took John's hand tenderly and led the way to the bedroom.
John looked at the new, king-sized bed with surprise. "When did you get this?" he asked the Spartan.
"It was delivered just the other evening. This way we'll have plenty of room to sleep together."
John looked at the bed apprehensively. "Henry, are you sure you can afford it? Beds are expensive as it is, but that thing must have cost a fortune! You didn't have to bankrupt yourself for my sake!"
"I wanted to," Henry said, touched by his partner's concern for him. "Besides, I just put it on credit. I want us to be able to be together comfortably. That's all that matters to me. Wanna try it out?" he asked, taking John's hand and gently leading him to the bed. They sat down slowly. "John, it's okay if you want to take things slowly and I want you to know right now that it's alright if you don't feel ready for anything. You always have the right to say no and I promise to obey and respect your wishes on that. I could never feel good knowing that you feel uncomfortable or afraid or obligated or anything. I don't own you in any way and want for you to be able to enjoy being with me in any way at all. And I don't just mean sex, you know. I want you to feel safe and happy. I could never hurt you, John. I could never stand it if you felt bad because of me."
"I know... I'm sorry it's so hard for me to feel comfortable with all of this."
"There's no need to apologize, John. None at all. Are you feeling okay now? You're not scared any more?"
"It just... Brought back a lot of bad memories is all," John partially lied, not wanting to hurt his Spartan partner by telling him just how uncomfortable it was being around people who were so much more powerful than himself. He covered for this by lying down on the bed and pulling at Henry's arm to bring him down beside him.
They held hands as they stared at the ceiling. "Did Keith start training you yet?" Henry asked.
"Yes. He said I have a good deal of potential, but there's a lot I have to learn and some bad habits I have to overcome."
"That's good to hear," Henry said with raised eyebrows. Keith rarely praised anyone and to hear that he had done so showed that John must have impressed him for the head of security to do so. "Well Keith's a great warrior, so if anyone can train you to be a force to be reckoned with, it's him."
"Really?" John asked with interest.
"Well yeah... I bet he won't rest until you can hold off a Spartan for a few minutes one-on-one!" Henry said emphatically.
John fell silent at that, staring at the ceiling and imagining the possibilities...
Sam sighed as he saw the broken door to Fred's bedroom. "Man, he really did a number on it... You okay?" he asked his fifth son with concern, thinking that it was a good thing that Ash and Will hadn't been here to see the incident as they were away visiting their uncles Ryan and Liam along with their younger cousins who still lived at home.
"Yeah," Fred said dully.
"Why are you sneaking into bars? If you get arrested, don't expect me to come running to bail you out right away!" Sam said grimly. "And what of all things have you been doing there anyways? That's a rough crowd that hangs out there and Spartan or not, you can easily get into trouble."
"I like leather sex," Fred said with a shrug. "It feels nice and manly... Lets me feel strong and sensual at the same time. A warrior's kind of sex, you know?"
"I know... Your Dad Daniel and I do some of that sometimes too. However, you're doing it with strangers, aren't you? Lots of strangers too, aren't you?"
"Sometimes..." Fred admitted. "I have a few regular playpals, but there's been a steady flow of new guys too."
"Fred... You have to be more careful! Some of those guys don't play safe and I know some of them are infected. The last thing you need is to catch something incurable. You're not invincible, Son. Please tell me that you've at least been using protection every time."
Fred was shocked and hurt by that. "Of course I have! I don't want to go and get brittle or pozzed up!"
"But condoms can still break Fred, and top or bottom, you can get infected either way."
"I know that!" the teenager protested. "I want to have sons someday and I don't want to run the risk of being too sick to have kids. I'm careful Dad Sam, really!"
"But the more often you sleep around the more chance you have of catching something! You can't expect me to drag your Uncle all the way here from England to fix you just because you screwed up!"
"Uncle?" Fred said in confusion. "You mean Lord Joshua is my uncle?"
"Well, I'm an adopted son of Lord Apollo and Lord Joshua is His son, making us adopted brothers, so yes. However, your divine uncle isn't a walking pharmacy or a medical backup for stupidity. It's insulting to think of Him that way."
Fred suddenly felt guilty, because that was exactly what he had figured. Should anything go wrong, he had always thought that Dad Sam could pull a few strings and Lord Joshua would come running to make him all better. He hung his head with shame.
"And what if someone gets violent? Not every leatherman is safe! There are a few rare cases of violent leathermen, but it can still happen. I'm very open-minded and have done some leather play myself even before Dan, so I'm not bigoted or anything, but there are a few nasty people who are in it only for the power it gives them over other people. All your Spartan strength is useless against chloroform and lots of heavy restraints! Some nut case could strap you down and knife you to death! Didn't you ever see the movie 'Cruising'? And if you think that by dedicating your death to your Grandfather Lord Apollo, assuming you get the chance that is, that He'll be obliged to bring you back like He did with me, then think again! Frankly, He would most likely leave you dead, grandson or not! To treat Him that way is a terrible insult to His pride! You may have divine relatives, but you have no right to treat Them like a safety net! It's not only sacrilegious, it's downright cruel!"
Fred felt his guilt grow stronger. He had indeed always assumed that Lord Apollo would protect him and if anything did go wrong He or Lord Joshua would save him. "Dad Sam...? May I be allowed to go pray in the temple?"
"Very well," Sam answered softly, seeing the look of shame on his son's face. "Go pray then return to your room. You're grounded for a month once you return."
Fred nodded in agreement, rose and began to prepare himself for worship...