The Voyage

8. Trust

"Took you long enough."

Erebus had just took a second to relax from cleaning up the mess that had been left from previous events, before the voice of his apparent tormentor rung out through the room once more. Erebus took a breath, before turning to face Mateo as he descended the staircase he had disappeared up 15 minutes prior.

"For once, I am going to be nice." Mateo sarcastically muttered. "Darius, take Erebus and go clean yourselves up, I'll keep an eye on this lot for now" he said, gesturing at the hostages who had only just calmed down.

"Good luck..." Erebus whispered to the hostage closest to him. Darius gestured to Erebus to follow him to the bathrooms.

Once they were out of earshot, Darius sighed. "He can be way too much to handle sometimes, I can't believe I've survived around him this long." This statement had seemingly come out of nowhere, it surprised Erebus, for Darius didn't seem like the kind of person to get irritated by someone that easily.

"What do you mean by that?" Erebus asked. "Survived around him?"

"Being honest, there actually used to be six of us in our little crew..." Darius bluntly uttered.

"Oh god... wha-?"

"I'm only messing with you!" Darius laughed. He could tell that Erebus wasn't very comfortable around Mateo, so he used that to his advantage.

"Wha-, why... why would you even say that?!" Erebus cried, although a smile creeped across his face. He lightly punched Darius in the arm. He didn't know what it was about the guy, whether it was his attractive personality, or his rather striking good looks, but Erebus was drawn to Darius. Not in a romantic way, but in the 'friends for life' way.

"Hey, we're here" Erebus quickly snapped back from his thoughts, and followed Darius into the bathroom.

As you would expect from a bank, the room was luxurious. Black marble bricks lined the walls, with what appeared to be solid gold faucet handles, Erebus was awestruck. He took in so much of what was before him, before turning his attention back to Darius, who now had taken his shirt off to reveal an amazing set of abs and a perfectly chiseled chest...

"How long have you known the other guys for then? How long have you been planning to pull this off?" Erebus stuttered, still in awe of everything around him.

"The latter question is classified information" Darius laughed. "I've only known the others for about a year now, but I knew Mateo way before then." he replied.

Erebus was puzzled. "What drew you to Mateo?" he asked. From his view, they seemed like the most unlikely people to get along, what with the deranged psychopath personality of Mateo to the calm yet threatening aura that followed Darius. "We were roommates when I moved from California" he said before splashing his face with water.

By now, Erebus had followed his lead, and had also taken his shirt off. He felt his imperfections grow as he continued to stare at Darius. He could never pull off looks like that.

"Hey, my eyes are up here" Darius snapped, before smiling again, and turning his attention back to the sink and mirror in front of him. Erebus quickly diverted his attention to the sink beside him. The cold water from the faucet flowed into his palms, as he prepared his next question.

"So, you moved from Cali?" he quizzed, "Why? What could possibly force you to leave?"

"Well, I actually moved here for love" Darius replied.

"Oh here we go..." Erebus chuckled. "This is going to be one of those fabled stories where this beautiful girl enticed you to move in the name of adoration and beauty."

"Actually, I..."

"Whatever you're about to say, just know that you're now the corniest person I know" Erebus laughed. What kind of girl could possibly twist Darius' arm that much to get him to move from his home.

"Well... actually..." Darius stammered.

"Well? Spit it out, I'm getting restless here..." Erebus responded, still giggling slightly.

"I moved here... because I was in love with..."

"Mateo..."