Hyacinthus and Apollo

Chapter 5 - Lysanias

The dread continued to build the closer and closer that Lysanias came to the second floor. It bubbled up, overflowing out if him like a cup being filled at a soda machine. There was too much. Too much nervous and negative energy. He couldn't contain it.

As he finally finished climbing the stairs, he found himself immediately in front of an office. The nameplate on the door indicated that the office belonged to someone named: Zephyr Anemoi.

The girl at the desk had mentioned someone named Zep, hadn't she?

Steeling himself, and ignoring the dread that pooled heavily in his stomach, suddenly sinking so fast it felt like lead, Lysanias knocked on the door.

And, of course, with his luck it just so happened to slowly swing open with a harsh creak.

Blinking at the door, Lysanias wasn't exactly sure what to do. He turned to look back down the stairs at the girl, but she was not, in fact, behind the desk anymore.

Every horror movie that he had ever seen told him exactly what he needed to do. And that was that he needed to leave. He shouldn't try to go into the office, he shouldn't try to look for the girl, he should just run down the stairs and right out the door.

As he moved to turn around, however, he found himself face to face with a well-dressed chest.

"What do we have here?" A deep and accented voice asked. Lysanias couldn't be sure what the accent was, but it felt familiar to him. He slowly looked up from the chest that he had been staring uncomprehendingly at and into an incredibly handsome face.

A harsh flush covered his face as he realized what he had just thought.

"Uh, um, uh," He sputtered.

The man raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow as he smirked down at Lysanias. It seemed that he found Lysanias' inability to speak amusing while Lysanias, himself, couldn't be more embarrassed.

"I have an interview." He finally pushed out, looking away from the deep, brown eyes that seemed to push and pull at him like a strong gust of wind. The man's dark brown hair had wild curls and his caramel skin looked stunning in his persimmon suit.

"Ah, you must be Lysanias Paxton." The adonis in front of him said, amusement coloring his tone as he continued, "The one that drives away sorrow for a town of peace? Or, something like that? Maybe it's more like: Ender of sorrows for peace? Like a less literal take?"

Lysanias stared.

This man, this literal god of a man just told him what his name meant, even if he had taken creative liberty to do so. It was the complete opposite of what normally happened when someone said his name or he introduced himself and he had no idea what to do.

"U-um, yeah." He finally said, staring at the man once more before turning away and looking at the door. Even though there was nothing special about the door, he continued to stare at it. He could feel the other man's eyes on him and knew that he'd probably die from embarrassment if he looked back again.

A part of him begged him to do it anyway.

Another, more vocal part, however, begged that he turn around. It begged him to go back down the stairs, back through the doors that he had come in through, and all the way back to his car and his home. It seemed to scream that this man would be the end of him, but Lysanias couldn't understand why.

Ignoring both, Lysanias waited in a sort of limbo for the man to say something else.

"Well," The man began, clearing his throat lightly, "Follow me into my office and we can begin this interview."

He pushed forward, rubbing past Lysanias' arm as he did so. A burning heat seared from the point that he hit and throughout Lysanias' body, taking him by surprise.

It was at this moment that Lysanias realized that this must be Zephyr Anemoi- the man that he was meant to be interviewing with as he had just been reminded. And, of course, Lysanias couldn't even look at the guy without embarrassing himself.

Groaning internally, he put a strained smile on his face and followed Mr. Anemoi into his office, taking a seat at one of the two chairs in front of the oak desk. Mr. Anemoi quickly shut the door behind him and walked around the desk to his own chair, his eyes never leaving Lysanias.

If he didn't know any better, Lysanias would think that the man was watching him not unlike a lion watching its prey. But, that couldn't be true. After all, Mr. Anemoi was a professional and this was just an interview.