For once, Nikado was keeping up the appearance of doing work, jotting down notes on a draft one of his assistants had brought him. At the sound of a knock on the door, he glanced up. "Coffee? Yes please."
"Sorry, no coffee." The Japanese words were accented with some sort of foreign accent, and Nikado barely had time to identify the voice before Chrion flung herself across his desk, throwing her arms around his neck and sending them both toppling backwards onto the floor.
"Oof. Hi, Chiron."
Domani smiled, leaning against the doorframe. "Hello, Nikado. Are you busy?"
"Not anymore. So, I take it you're not mad at me anymore?"
"His name is Sol," Chiron corrected Domani firmly.
Nikado pulled himself into a sitting position, letting the young girl rest on his legs. "But my name is also Nikado."
Chiron wrinkled her nose at him. "Nikado is a mortal's name," she replied with obvious disdain.
"Yes, Chiron dear," Nikado chuckled. "I have both a human identity and a god identity. So I have two names."
She thought this over, tilting her head. "Well, gods are better than mortals, so you're Sol."
Domani laughed at the other man's expression, gesturing for Chiron to move so he could stand. "Children just don't understand the wondrous aestetics of kanji," Nikado lamented as he got to his feet.
"Maybe when she's older," Domani offered cheerily.
Nikado glanced over at the Italian. "You seem to be in high spirits," he observed. "Something good happen?"
"Nothing in particular." Nikado grinned slightly as Domani continued speaking. "She just won't sit still today, and Flora's been nearly run ragged, so I thought I'd let her stretch her legs down here."
"Let's have ice cream!" Chiron declared. "And crepes! Let's go to a park!"
"Park sounds like a wonderful idea," Nikado agreed, fumbling for his office keys and putting up an away sign on the door's window. "We can grab some lunch as well, I'm starved. How is Flora doing, anyway?"
"Besides being run ragged? Wonderful," Domani reassured the other god. "The gardens look better with each day that passes. Although that woman never tires of teasing me," he sighed. "You should come visit again sometime, you know. Flora and Favonius were disappointed they didn't get to see you."
"Really? Don't run too far ahead, Chiron," Nikado called to the girl as he tucked his hands behind his head. "I'll think about it. I keep quite the schedule down here, you know, but they're always welcome to come see me."
"Favonius doesn't seem too inclined to ever come back to Earth, but maybe Flora might come visit," Domani replied cheerfully.
"Hide and seek!" Chiron called to them from underneath a tree. "I wanna play!"
"Only if Domani's it," Nikado shouted back with a grin.
"Why am I always it?" Domani complained, but walked over to the tree and began counting.
As soon as the Italian had started, Nikado turned to Chiron with a mischevious grin, beckoning her to follow him. "Let's see how long it takes him to notice," he giggled as they exited the park.
Chiron grinned brightly, not above playing a prank on her foster father. "Won't he catch on soon if we're not there?"
"Maybe, maybe not. I bet you it takes him fifteen minutes before he calls my phone," Nikado replied, matching her grin.
She began to giggle as well as they crossed the street, making their way through the midmorning crowds. "I bet it only takes him five! And if I win, we get ice cream!"
"Fine, but if I win, we get crepes!" She giggled at that.
The sound of some instrument drifted to them from down the street, and Chiron peered ahead at the small crowd near the source of the music. "Sol, what's that? What's that?"
"Street musician. Chiron, honey, could you please call me Nikado while we're in public?" the older man whined.
"I wanna see!" she declared, heedless of the request as she ran ahead.
Nikado followed with a smile, listening to the song the musician was playing. Some old, nostalgic tune, he thought peacefully, something that resonated with one of his past lives. As the musician finished his piece, Nikado chipped in a bill to the man's instrument case. "Wasn't that a nice tune, Chiron?"
She didn't answer the question. Nikado looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen, and rather abruptly he realized he'd been counter-pranked. As if to make things worse, his cell phone began to ring. "She wins," he grumbled to himself as he accepted the call.
"Okay, I give up. Where the hell are you two?" Domani's voice spoke.
"Domani? You're going to kill me," Nikado sighed. "I lost her."
There was a pause. "You're right, I am going to kill you. Where did you last see her?"
"Right here, with me. I turned around and she was gone. We're north of the park, she couldn't have gotten far."
Chiron, having merrily ditched her chaperones, contented herself to wandering around the city of Tokyo with no real direction. It wasn't until a length of lavendar hair caught her eye that she began moving with any direction.
Jun had taken a break from the day's shoot to fetch coffee for everyone while Leonard worked on the latest batch of images. Glancing around every now and then for his usual follower, he completely failed to notice the new tagalong as she followed him into the Solar Flare building.
"Jun, honey, you still look so pale," Anko fussed as he returned. "I know you haven't been sleeping well. I can tell, it's right here," she tapped his cheek, just below his eye. "Why don't you take a nap, hon, and we'll get things set up for an afternoon shoot instead."
"I can still work," he protested weakly. "We'll get behind."
"We'll get more behind having to reshoot everything because you look like something the cat dragged in," Mihail replied firmly. "If we fall behind, we'll pull something out of Leonard's reserves. You can use my office, it has a couch."
The cameraman looked up from his laptop, where he was working on touching up a photo. "Those aren't as good," he protested.
Jun sighed, unable to hide his disappointment as he shut the door to the photo studio, slowly walking down the hall. He was tired, he had to admit. Between the dreams and the stalker, he was just ready to curl up and wait for the world to start making sense again. Someone send me a sign I'm not crazy, he thought wearily to himself as he opened the door to Mihail's office.
He paused with the door partway open, as he noticed the younger girl further down the hall staring at him silently. "May I help you?" he questioned slowly.
She walked over to him, scowling as she looked him up and down. Jun paused, then invited her into the office. "Would you like some tea?"
"You're not so special," she declared firmly, flopping into a chair. "There's something not right about you, but you're not that special."
He smiled tiredly at that, rubbing at his wrist absently. "There's a lot not right with me. Is there something I can help you with, miss...?"
"Chiron," she told him firmly, swinging her legs as she looked around the office. "You're not special, so why does Janus like you? Did you brainwash him?"
He stared at her for a moment, immediately recognizing the names, then chuckled softly. "You're a fan of Nikado-sensei's book too, huh?"
"His name is Sol," she corrected, as if he was the child instead.
"I think you've been reading too much fantasy," Jun told her calmly as he sat down on the couch tiredly.
She stiffened indignantly. "Don't take that tone with me, mortal! I want you to stay away from Janus."
"I've never met a Janus in my life. Easily done."
"Stop playing dumb," she snapped. "You just had lunch with him the other day. I saw you."
"Look, whatever your name is, I'll play whatever game you want later, okay? I'm really sort of tired now." Jun laid down on the couch, throwing an arm over his eyes.
She scowled and walked over, giving the couch a kick. "Oh no you don't. You're just a mortal, you don't brush me off."
He opened one eye, looking at her. "What's that make you? A god?"
"Now you get it," she said in satisfaction.
He rolled over, turning his back to her. "Go play make-believe elsewhere."
She gave the couch a harder kick. "You're really rude for a mortal. What do Janus and Sol even see in you?" He ignored her. "Look, I'm not playing make-believe. I am a god, so you have to listen to me."
"Prove it," he mumbled, trying to tune her out and hoping she would go away.
"Fine, I will!" Looking around, she seized a fat magic marker off Mihail's desk, then grabbed for Jun's hand. "Give me your hand."
"If I give you my hand, will you go away?" he pleaded, letting her take his hand anyway.
"Just you watch, mortal." She began writing on his hand with the marker, face crinkled in concentration as she sketched out an elaborate rune on his hand, trying to remember where all the lines went. Examining the finished rune for a moment, she nodded in satisfaction and gave it a little tap.
A slight wind brushed around Jun's skin, and suddenly he felt light, impossibly so. The pressure of the couch from his back abated and ceased completely as his body gently drifted upwards, like the room had entered a gravity-free zone. The model gasped in surprise, twisting in midair and feeling around for any sort of strings or supports that would do this. "I'm floating," he gasped in bewilderment, fully awake now. "I'm in midair!"
"Duhhh," she scoffed. "Now do you properly believe I'm a god?"
"I believe you," he replied sincerely, tone caught between wonderment and panic. "Can you put me down now?"
"Tell me you believe I'm a god and that you're sorry you doubted me," she insisted.
He was now a full two feet above the couch, and met her gaze. The ridiculousness of the whole situation of the past couple of weeks hit him all at once, and he began to giggle helplessly. "Stop that!" Chiron demanded.
"I'm sorry," he managed between giggles with a tone of hysteria, "I really do believe you're a god. I'm sorry I doubted you. Can you put me down now, please?"
She sighed, but moved her hand in a sort of gesture. Nothing seemed to change; Jun continued to float right where he had drifted to. "Hm. That's not how it's supposed to work...."
Rushed footsteps sounded outside the office door, and then it was flung open. Nikado took one look at the innocent-looking godling and the floating model and put a hand to his face. "We have got to work on your girl's subtlety skills."
Words had temporarily left Domani as he took in the sight. "You...you," he managed slowly, pointing to Chiron. "You are in big trouble, young lady."
Warned by his tone, Chiron tried for a tearful plea. "He was making fun of me!"
"Genoa-san, Nikado!" Jun said in surprise. "What's going on?"
"I'll take the girl home," Nikado told Domani firmly, grabbing Chiron by the wrist. "You give Jun a hand."
"I don't wanna go yet," Chiron protested.
"Chiron, dear, this is for both our sakes before our good friend kills us both. Let's go," he told her, giving her a push out the door. Pausing by Domani, he said in a low tone, "You should tell him the truth. Also, you should probably follow that with some tongue."
Domani shot the older man a stern glare, and Nikado quickly retreated with Chiron, shutting the door behind him. "Um...Genoa-san," Jun began slowly. "What...What's going on? And, um, how do I...er...how do I get down? I really can't go back to work from here."
"Carpe dium, Domani!" Nikado called through the door.
"Take your Latin elsewhere!" Domani shouted at the closed door, and was rewarded with the sound of fleeing feet. Sighing tiredly, he reached for Jun's arm. "Give me your hand."
Jun hesitated, then grasped Domani's hand, and the Italian pulled him close, pushing his own magic into Chiron's spell. Slowly, the model's feet drifted back to the ground, landing softly as a feather. "Thank you," Jun said slowly.
"We have to get that mark off your hand," Domani replied, voice practical but emotionless. "Do you have a bathroom nearby?"
Jun pointed in a vague gesture. "Good. Don't let go of my hand," Domani instructed, letting the younger man lead the way into the bathroom, which was thankfully deserted. Letting the water start running, Domani scowled at the lines of magic marker. "Of all the things to draw a rune in, she picks the most permanent. I'm going to tan her hide," he grumbled irritably as he scrubbed at Jun's palm.
Jun put his other hand under the water, rubbing at his face and appreciating the cold wetness against his skin. "Genoa-san...."
"It'll be all right, Jun," Domani reassured him briskly. "See, it's coming off already. Then you can go back to work and it'll be like nothi--"
Jun wasn't listening as he leaned into Domani's chest, closing his eyes. "I'm not going crazy," he murmured softly. "Janus and Chiron really do exist."
Domani blinked in surprise, looking down at the other man resting against him. His heart began pounding a bit faster at the contact, and slowly he put one arm around the shorter man. Jun's breathing was soft and peaceful, expression relaxed, but with the makeup partially rubbed away, Domani could see how pale the tanned model was, the dark rings under his eyes.
Even when he wasn't involved with Jun anymore, he was still causing the younger man to suffer. Clutching the model to his chest, he stroked the fine lavendar hair, whispering apologizes.
When Jun awoke again, he was laying on the couch in Mihail's office, the place empty as if nothing had happened. Rubbing at one eye, he glanced to his hand and noticed the faint marks of magic marker left on it. It hadn't been a dream, he thought reassuringly to himself as he smiled and went back to the studio.
Anko was less than pleased with him. "For heaven's sake, look at your face. Just couldn't leave your makeup alone, could you? This is going to set us behind even further," she lamented as she forcefully sat him down, grabbing for her tools.
"Sorry, Anko," he apologized, though he couldn't help but smile at her dramatic attitude. "I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing."
"Well, you seem to be feeling better, so we can get some real work done this afternoon," Leonard noted from his computer.
Anko quickly finished her work and pushed a set of clothing into Jun's arm. "Change, young man, on the double!" She watched him go with a soft smile before commenting to her coworkers, "It's good to see him like himself again. I was starting to get worried. It isn't like him."
"Indeed. I wonder what happened to him," Leonard commented.
"Doesn't matter," Mihail said in a firm tone, shrugging slightly. "As long as he feels well enough to work, then it's fine."
"That's awfully cold of you, Mihail," Anko scolded with a scowl.
"Jun is a self-contained individual," the manager replied without looking up. "If he wants others to know something, then he'll tell us. Asking would be pointless."
"I suppose that's true, but...." Anko sighed, glancing back to the changing rooms with a concerned expression as she added a silent prayer. Jun, baby, you keep yourself in good spirits, okay?
