Genesis [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"I thought you said you were leaving."

Zeus's growled mutter was muffled by the pillow he had resting on top of his head as he lay sprawled on his bed, face down, his thousand credit suit now ruined and wrinkled. On the floor, scattered around his bed like the rose petals of an alcoholic were bottles of Jack Daniels, and a shattered glass that he must have given up on and traded in for bottle drinking.

It was two in the afternoon when I decided to show up at Zeus's palace, and it hadn't taken long for me to find him in this pathetic mess in his room. I folded my arms over my chest, standing a few feet from the bed to watch him lay there in his own misery.

"I never said I was leaving," I told him gently, "You misinterpreted what I said."

"Fuck you." I said nothing in response to that, watching as Zeus laid there for what seemed like several more long minutes before he reluctantly lifted his face out from under the pillow, pinning me with a bloodshot glare. He growled, but didn't speak as he dragged himself out of bed. My eyes followed him as he went into the bathroom, and he slammed the door shut so hard that one of the glass windows across the room cracked right down the middle, only to repair itself almost immediately.

I went to the sitting area of his bedroom, plopping down in a seat as I stared at the bathroom door, listening to the shower turn on, the hiss of water as it sprayed, the sound of Zeus slamming the shower door shut. I waited for that to shatter as well, but it seemed to hold against his anger somehow. It didn't take long for him to shower and put on a new outfit, and I was pleasantly surprised he hadn't changed into one of his designer suits. Instead, he wore a basic long sleeve navy top and black sweatpants. Of course, I had no doubt they were probably designer brands as well, but it was so casual in comparison to his usual style.

"What're you looking at?" Zeus said snidely when I arched a brow at his clothes. I shook my head, rising to my feet.

"I take it you're not going out today."

"I feel like I was hit by a garbage truck, so no. Fuck the rest of the world today," Zeus snapped, drying his hair angrily before tossing the towel down a chute in the wall that he opened with a panel on the wall. He paused to glare at the panel, glared at the chute, then glared at me before he looked away, reaching up to try and straighten his hair, without gel. Unable to resist, I came over and reached up to brush his hands aside. He glared at me as I fixed his hair.

"You shouldn't try to tame this so much," I said, brushing my fingers through his hair and giving them a shake to loosen things up, "It's much better the way it is naturally." Zeus frowned at that, then scowled and stepped away from me, patting down his hair again.

"Nobody takes bedhead series," he said dryly, then put a considerable distance between us before he muttered, "I'm making breakfast. If you're hungry." He said nothing more than that before he left the room and I followed him, amused at his behavior. He was still angry, probably over my words yesterday, and I made a mental note to choose my words more wisely around Zeus. His interpretation of what I'd said, however, revealed an interesting tidbit.

Who knew Zeus had abandonment issues?

Then again, I suppose it made sense considering his mother had just dumped him into the arms of abusive strangers before taking off. And the nymph colony appeared to have abandoned him after he became king as well, and his siblings? Once the war was finished, once it was won, Zeus was simply their figurehead and nothing more. And then Hera divorced him and took off.

I followed Zeus into the kitchen, watching him move around as he prepared breakfast. He handcut his own potatoes, sliced into a fresh slab of meat for bacon, cracked eggs against a bowl, separated yolks from whites, preparing his own hollandaise sauce. I was unsure what made me so engrossed in his cooking habits. I'd seen plenty of creatures cook for themselves. Even Lucifer cooked for himself once in awhile, especially on holidays when he gave his staff a week off to spend with their families. I'd seen Alaric bake a few cookies once in awhile. Even Raven knew how to use a stove and knife properly.