[Milliways]: Something REALLY new

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus pauses outside his door and turns to smile at Steve.

"Well? You've got the key."

Comments

[golden_lyre]

"Going home."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I imagine not," Steve says. "We're neither of us the same men who left. Home changes and so do we, usually in different directions."

[golden_lyre]

"Yes," Orpheus murmurs. "Exactly."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Is that why you spend so much time in the bar?"

[golden_lyre]

"How do you mean?" Orpheus asks, frowning slightly, confused.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Because going home is so strange."

[golden_lyre]

"I'm not home when I go back, though."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Yeah, you go back to wherever you came from, but you can go home from there, can't you?"

[golden_lyre]

"I can. I do sometimes. But that isn't why I come here so much."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Then why do you?" He strokes Orpheus's chest slowly.

[golden_lyre]

"For a long time it was because Apollo comes here. Even if I didn't see him while I was here, knowing that made me want to be here."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve nods slowly. "Having him here must be comforting."

[golden_lyre]

"He's not even the Apollo from my world," Orpheus says. "But it had been so long since I'd seen him. I'd given up hope of ever seeing him again.

"Of ever seeing any of my family again."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"And now you've got him and your aunt...who else?"

[golden_lyre]

"I've seen quite a few others," Orpheus says. "Artemis and Aphrodite, Epimetheus, Ganymede... There's nowhere else I could meet so many like me.

"It's more like home than home."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I'm glad," Steve says softly. "I'm glad you've got people like you around."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus kisses his hair. "There are other incentives for coming here often, of course."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"The burgers," Steve says with a straight face.

[golden_lyre]

"How did you guess?" Orpheus says, laughing.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Artists are very observant," Steve says primly.

[golden_lyre]

"Apparently not that observant," Orpheus answers dryly.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve laughs and kisses him.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus kisses him back, arms wrapping around him.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Tell me one thing," Steve says. "Do you miss me when I'm not around?"

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus' brow furrows, and he looks at Steve seriously for a long moment. "Sometimes," he says softly.