Olympian Syndrome

Chapter 15

Bad tried to understand all the emotions that were crashing against him. Anger, surprise, confusion, fear, happiness - wait happiness? He questioned himself. Skeppy continued to grin at him, making the Athena's heart hammer in his chest.

This muffinhead... Bad thought, quite annoyed at the things this boy made him feel.

"Baaaad," Finn whined as he slung an arm around him, and smirked.

"You didn't tell us that you had a boyfriend," Finn declared smugly making Bad blush.

"WE ARE NOT BOYFRIENDS!" Bad yelled in embarrassment, surprising everyone including himself at the volume of his voice.

"Not yet anyway," Skeppy stated with confidence, making Finn squeal as he gently elbowed Bad's side.

"You can time out now Bad, we'll take it from here," Zelk said. Mega excitedly ran over to Bad and held out his hands, as if asking Bad to give him the load that he was carrying.

"b...but I still have a few minutes left," Bad argued, deciding to go with any excuse that he could conjure up to escape.

"Now Bad, it isn't good to keep a guy waiting." Vurb said as he grabbed the top half of games that Bad was carrying, while Mega snatched the rest.

Finn shoved him forward, making the Athena stumble before Skeppy caught him and steadied him, flashing one of his signature smiles in the process. Bad's face was completely red now, as he kept on staring at Skeppy's face.

The trance he was in only broke when Zelk handed him his bag, and shoved the couple out the door. Bad made sure to shoot dirty looks at his co-workers, who smugly watched them from the store's windows.

He felt something being placed in his hands and turned his attention back to Skeppy, who was handing him the helmet from earlier.

"Hop on," he said again.

Skeppy laughed as Bad hesitated, and shot him a suspicious look.

"I'm not gonna do anything. I just want you to experience what it's really like to be bad. Don't worry, we won't do anything illegal." He assured.

Bad let out a sigh and climbed onto the back of the motorcycle. Once he was settled and had his helmet o,n he nodded at Skeppy, signaling that they could go.

Skeppy reached behind him and grabbed the Athena's hands, before placed them around his waist. "Wouldn't want you to fall off now would we."

Bad was thankful for the helmet that blocked Skeppy from seeing his red face. He nuzzled into the Hermes' back and tightened his hold. A smirk found it way to Bad's lips when he felt Skeppy shiver at the touch, before finally driving away.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Karl let out a sigh as he saved the last file that he needed to edit. He glanced out the window to see the sun setting, time to head home.

He stood up and placed all his belongings, that were scattered across his desk into his bag. Then he shut down his computer.

"Bye Chandler, Bye Jimmy!" he said, as he swung his bag over his shoulder and started to head out.

"Bye Karl, and thanks again for your help." Jimmy said. Karl smiled at the man, who was technically his boss. Jimmy owned a couple of businesses, and Karl worked over the weekends to helped the man get all his files and records in order.

"Hey Karl, hold up!" A man called from behind him.

"Hey Chris, is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, No," the man said and handed Karl a paper bag.

"The wife made some muffins today, she thought that you and your roommate might like some."

"Thanks Chris, and make sure to thank the Mrs. for me," Karl said before walking out the door, and heading in the direction of his bicycle. He placed the muffins in his bag then shot Bad a text, asking his friend if he needed to buy anything on the way home.

Karl and Bad both grew up in poor families. They became friends at a very young age, and had both worked hard to earn scholarships to get into college.

The both of them decided to leave their parents and get an apartment together. To make ends met they worked on the weekends. George was aware of their situation, and would often treat them when they could find the time to go out.

With no reply from Bad, Karl placed his phone back in his bag and got on his bike.

He was about to take off when he heard a car honk at him. Karl turned his head to recognize the guys as his father's drinking buddies, and from the way that they were walking he could tell that they were definitely drunk.

"Hey kid, it's been awhile." one of the men said, his voice slurring.

"Your old man borrowed some money from us the other day, and hasn't paid us back yet." Another goon said.

Typical, Karl thought. His father would constantly borrow money only to get wasted on it.

"Well I don't have any money right now, just remind my dad when you see him again." Karl said as he tried to bike away, but his escape was quickly blocked by the men.

Before he could react he was pulled off his bike and thrown to the ground. He watched in horror as the goons trashed the bike that he had saved up for so long to buy.

"That's gonna be you next if you don't give us what we want." The men said.

Now Karl was angry. He quickly fought the men and managed to land a few decent blows, but since he was outnumbered he was receiving quite a few hits as well.

When Karl realized that he was losing ground he decided to run for it, but he found himself surrounded by the drunk, now very angry men. Karl felt his body tense up as they moved in closer.

Suddenly someone hit one of the men on the back of his head, Karl wasted no time in dealing with the guys behind him. When it was all over he turned to thank his helper, only to feel his heart rate spike up when he realized that it was Sapnap.

"I was planning to surprise you by picking you up from work, only to discover you getting ganged up by some drunk guys. You always seem to surprise me Athena." Sapnap said shooting Karl a smile. His smile quickly turned into frown when he noticed the brunette's injuries.

"Come on, I'll take you home." Sapnap said, guiding the stunned boy to his truck. Karl dug his feet into the ground, confusing the Hephaestus with his actions.

"My...my bike." Karl stuttered out.

Sapnap gave the boy a soft smile, and gently guided him into the passenger's seat before heading back for the deformed bike. He placed it at the back of his truck, then hopped into the driver's seat.

"Considering that you know where I work and what time I get off, it scares me to think about how much information did you guys exactly get on us." Karl pointed out.

"We just know a few basic things, and you should be thankful since my snooping just saved your ass." Sapnap declared with a chuckle.

"I could have handled it," Karl replied as he stared out the window.

"Sure..." Sapnap dragged on as he eyed the Athena's newly forming bruises.

His grip on the steering wheel tightened, and Sapnap could feel his blood boil. I should have been there sooner, he told himself. He then stopped by a store, much to Karl's confusion.

"Wait here, I need to grab a few things."

After a few minutes, Sapnap emerged from the store holding several bags. He dumped them in the backseat before getting back behind the wheel, and continuing to drive to Karl's apartment.