Ship/Member: Seungcheol/Joshua Major Tags: N/A Additional Tags: circe au, gods and mortals, greek mythology Permission to remix: Yes
***
How fragile.
That had been Joshua’s first thought when he’d first laid eyes on the man, wading through the rip-tide as the hull of his ship sank beneath the surface of the waves in the distance, cerulean swallowing darkness.
He hadn’t looked like much either, battered in a way Joshua could scarcely comprehend. Shadows marred his complexion, which had an almost unearthly shade of grey, like all the life had been leached from his bones.
Joshua had caught him before he hit the ground.
***
The next part came easy. Joshua’s always had a way with nature and the plants listened as he coaxed them out of their ground and under his pestle. Nectar dripped easily through parted lips and Joshua sang the magic to life inside him until colour returned to his skin and he no longer looked like a sliver of himself.
He wrapped the man’s wounds in calendula leaves, pressed his power into the salves beneath them. His skin was warm beneath Joshua’s fingers, and he couldn’t help but trace the lines of his arm, stopping just before his pulse point. The mark of this man’s mortality. What a strange concept, the idea that if Joshua hadn’t saved him he would have simply ceased to exist.
Then again, gods died all the time too. Only in different ways.
***
He woke a full day later, skin warmed to a beautiful bronze colour, nothing left on his body to show for his battle with the ocean and her monsters. Joshua heard the noise he made as woke, even from where he’d been tending to his animals on the other side of the island, and was immediately back in the house and by his bedside.
The man took one look at him and promptly fell right out of the bed in what could only have been an attempt to run, had his legs not been rendered almost useless from the recovery. He was beautiful like this, now that he wasn’t halfway into the Stix, dark hair falling like a curtain over equally dark, wide eyes that looked up at Joshua with an expression that Joshua had come to learn was fear. It stirred something unpleasant in him and he took a step back before crouching down to meet him on his level.
“I’m sorry for startling you,” he said softly. “I heard you wake.”
“Where am I?” His voice was low, rough from disuse but not unpleasantly so. It sent tingles across his skin and Joshua couldn’t help but wonder what he would sound like otherwise.
He smiled what he hoped was a gentle smile. “You’re on my island.”
The man frowned as he pushed himself back up into a proper sitting position. “My ship… I thought I was dead. Did you save me?”
“I did.”
“Who are you?” His voice was steady despite the obvious wariness in his eyes, and Joshua found himself more and more intrigued.
He edged closer, smiling slightly when the man no longer flinched or backed away. “You can call me Joshua.”
The man swallowed but he met his gaze with a strength Joshua wouldn’t have thought possible in humans. “I'm Seungcheol.”
***
That was how it began. How Seungcheol slowly weaved himself into the island and into Joshua’s very eternal life. He was curious about everything, about the magic Joshua pulled from the earth into the bottles and jars that lined the windows and shelves of the house.
He would follow Joshua out into the meadows and fields, into the darkness of the forest, wade into icy pools that seemed to be made out of liquid glass without hesitation, and always, always, with a question ready on the tip of his tongue. His magic seemed to interest Seungcheol as much as his mortality did Joshua, and yet, not once did Seungcheol ever ask him what he was.
It took months and multiple trips around the island for Joshua to find out why, sprawled out as they were atop one of the hills under the blanket of stars that never seemed to change. His plants curled around them in welcome, twining around their limbs like bangles of green, the stronger of them nudging him closer to Seungcheol than he would have liked.
Seungcheol lifted a hand in wonder, watching as the vine wound its way upward and between his fingers.
“Why do you always watch like it is your first time seeing the plants greet you?”
Seungcheol looked over at him then, a small smile playing around his lips. “Because sometimes I’m not sure I believe they’re real. That you’re real.”
Joshua laughed as he propped himself up on an elbow so that he could look down at Seungcheol. “Why would you think I’m not real?”
Seungcheol blushed then, an exquisite pink colour that tinted his cheeks in a way Joshua’s never seen before. “You— You’re too beautiful to be real,” he admitted softly, looking away from Joshua. “And you do these things that shouldn’t be possible, you healed me, you speak to plants and animals, and they listen to you. The island listens to you. And you— you never touch me. Sometimes… Sometimes I wonder if I died and went to Elysium and you’re just a figment of my mind…” He trailed off, flushing so deeply even his ears were pink.
His words stunned Joshua. It had been so long since the last time he’d met someone — god, mortal, some other creature in between — that he hadn’t realised that he’d been keeping what must have been an uncomfortable distance between them. He looked at how close they were now, barely an inch apart and yet there might as well have been an ocean between them.
“I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “I didn’t realise. It’s been so long since— Since there’s been anyone else here besides me I— I didn't know if I could. Would you let me? Touch you, I mean.”
Seungcheol’s head whipped towards him and Joshua found himself unable to look away from him, from the deep, intense blackness that was his eyes to the delicate curve of his lips. “Yes.”
Joshua moved slowly, gently, as he finally allowed himself to press the palm of his hand to Seungcheol’s cheek, to feel the warmth of his skin that was so different to the heat of the sun he knew ran in his own veins. Seungcheol’s eyes fluttered shut and Joshua took the opportunity to brush the hair of his face, marvelling at the way the strands felt coarse against his fingers, unlike the perfect smoothness of Joshua’s own hair.
“You’re beautiful too, you know?” Joshua whispered as his thumb traced along the edges of Seungcheol’s face, over the stubble that dotted his chin, and the lines of scars from older battles. And he was beautiful. Seungcheol was beautiful in a way that was so different to what Joshua was used to, weathered, and worn, and imperfect. It sang to Joshua’s heart the way his island sang to him sometimes, an answer to his own song.
He leaned closer as he brought both his hands to Seungcheol’s cheeks. “May I?”
Seungcheol nodded and Joshua pressed their lips together, humming in delight when Seungcheol reached for him too. Joshua was no virgin, millenia on Earth had taken care of that, but this was different. This was something he'd never felt before. It almost felt like his magic did when he called to it, like an energy flowed into his veins.
He gasped when it finally hit him, sending sparks shooting across his skin and he pulled away, panting, only to find Seungcheol in a similar state, his skin flushed an even rosier hue than before. His eyes were an inky blackness as they looked up at him. “Wow,” he breathed and Joshua couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him.
He leaned closer with a grin, the tips of their noses just shy of brushing. “Still think I’m not real?”
Seungcheol laughed, a wonderful sound that warmed Joshua all the way to his toes. “Definitely not.”
***
a/n: Ahhh I hope you like this. I feel like I may not have done as much as I (or you) wanted but I'm actually reading Circe at the moment so when I saw this I decided why not?
[FILL] elysium
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: circe au, gods and mortals, greek mythology
Permission to remix: Yes
***
How fragile.
That had been Joshua’s first thought when he’d first laid eyes on the man, wading through the rip-tide as the hull of his ship sank beneath the surface of the waves in the distance, cerulean swallowing darkness.
He hadn’t looked like much either, battered in a way Joshua could scarcely comprehend. Shadows marred his complexion, which had an almost unearthly shade of grey, like all the life had been leached from his bones.
Joshua had caught him before he hit the ground.
***
The next part came easy. Joshua’s always had a way with nature and the plants listened as he coaxed them out of their ground and under his pestle. Nectar dripped easily through parted lips and Joshua sang the magic to life inside him until colour returned to his skin and he no longer looked like a sliver of himself.
He wrapped the man’s wounds in calendula leaves, pressed his power into the salves beneath them. His skin was warm beneath Joshua’s fingers, and he couldn’t help but trace the lines of his arm, stopping just before his pulse point. The mark of this man’s mortality. What a strange concept, the idea that if Joshua hadn’t saved him he would have simply ceased to exist.
Then again, gods died all the time too. Only in different ways.
***
He woke a full day later, skin warmed to a beautiful bronze colour, nothing left on his body to show for his battle with the ocean and her monsters. Joshua heard the noise he made as woke, even from where he’d been tending to his animals on the other side of the island, and was immediately back in the house and by his bedside.
The man took one look at him and promptly fell right out of the bed in what could only have been an attempt to run, had his legs not been rendered almost useless from the recovery. He was beautiful like this, now that he wasn’t halfway into the Stix, dark hair falling like a curtain over equally dark, wide eyes that looked up at Joshua with an expression that Joshua had come to learn was fear. It stirred something unpleasant in him and he took a step back before crouching down to meet him on his level.
“I’m sorry for startling you,” he said softly. “I heard you wake.”
“Where am I?” His voice was low, rough from disuse but not unpleasantly so. It sent tingles across his skin and Joshua couldn’t help but wonder what he would sound like otherwise.
He smiled what he hoped was a gentle smile. “You’re on my island.”
The man frowned as he pushed himself back up into a proper sitting position. “My ship… I thought I was dead. Did you save me?”
“I did.”
“Who are you?” His voice was steady despite the obvious wariness in his eyes, and Joshua found himself more and more intrigued.
He edged closer, smiling slightly when the man no longer flinched or backed away. “You can call me Joshua.”
The man swallowed but he met his gaze with a strength Joshua wouldn’t have thought possible in humans. “I'm Seungcheol.”
***
That was how it began. How Seungcheol slowly weaved himself into the island and into Joshua’s very eternal life. He was curious about everything, about the magic Joshua pulled from the earth into the bottles and jars that lined the windows and shelves of the house.
He would follow Joshua out into the meadows and fields, into the darkness of the forest, wade into icy pools that seemed to be made out of liquid glass without hesitation, and always, always, with a question ready on the tip of his tongue. His magic seemed to interest Seungcheol as much as his mortality did Joshua, and yet, not once did Seungcheol ever ask him what he was.
It took months and multiple trips around the island for Joshua to find out why, sprawled out as they were atop one of the hills under the blanket of stars that never seemed to change. His plants curled around them in welcome, twining around their limbs like bangles of green, the stronger of them nudging him closer to Seungcheol than he would have liked.
Seungcheol lifted a hand in wonder, watching as the vine wound its way upward and between his fingers.
“Why do you always watch like it is your first time seeing the plants greet you?”
Seungcheol looked over at him then, a small smile playing around his lips. “Because sometimes I’m not sure I believe they’re real. That you’re real.”
Joshua laughed as he propped himself up on an elbow so that he could look down at Seungcheol. “Why would you think I’m not real?”
Seungcheol blushed then, an exquisite pink colour that tinted his cheeks in a way Joshua’s never seen before. “You— You’re too beautiful to be real,” he admitted softly, looking away from Joshua. “And you do these things that shouldn’t be possible, you healed me, you speak to plants and animals, and they listen to you. The island listens to you. And you— you never touch me. Sometimes… Sometimes I wonder if I died and went to Elysium and you’re just a figment of my mind…” He trailed off, flushing so deeply even his ears were pink.
His words stunned Joshua. It had been so long since the last time he’d met someone — god, mortal, some other creature in between — that he hadn’t realised that he’d been keeping what must have been an uncomfortable distance between them. He looked at how close they were now, barely an inch apart and yet there might as well have been an ocean between them.
“I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “I didn’t realise. It’s been so long since— Since there’s been anyone else here besides me I— I didn't know if I could. Would you let me? Touch you, I mean.”
Seungcheol’s head whipped towards him and Joshua found himself unable to look away from him, from the deep, intense blackness that was his eyes to the delicate curve of his lips. “Yes.”
Joshua moved slowly, gently, as he finally allowed himself to press the palm of his hand to Seungcheol’s cheek, to feel the warmth of his skin that was so different to the heat of the sun he knew ran in his own veins. Seungcheol’s eyes fluttered shut and Joshua took the opportunity to brush the hair of his face, marvelling at the way the strands felt coarse against his fingers, unlike the perfect smoothness of Joshua’s own hair.
“You’re beautiful too, you know?” Joshua whispered as his thumb traced along the edges of Seungcheol’s face, over the stubble that dotted his chin, and the lines of scars from older battles. And he was beautiful. Seungcheol was beautiful in a way that was so different to what Joshua was used to, weathered, and worn, and imperfect. It sang to Joshua’s heart the way his island sang to him sometimes, an answer to his own song.
He leaned closer as he brought both his hands to Seungcheol’s cheeks. “May I?”
Seungcheol nodded and Joshua pressed their lips together, humming in delight when Seungcheol reached for him too. Joshua was no virgin, millenia on Earth had taken care of that, but this was different. This was something he'd never felt before. It almost felt like his magic did when he called to it, like an energy flowed into his veins.
He gasped when it finally hit him, sending sparks shooting across his skin and he pulled away, panting, only to find Seungcheol in a similar state, his skin flushed an even rosier hue than before. His eyes were an inky blackness as they looked up at him. “Wow,” he breathed and Joshua couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him.
He leaned closer with a grin, the tips of their noses just shy of brushing. “Still think I’m not real?”
Seungcheol laughed, a wonderful sound that warmed Joshua all the way to his toes. “Definitely not.”
***
a/n: Ahhh I hope you like this. I feel like I may not have done as much as I (or you) wanted but I'm actually reading Circe at the moment so when I saw this I decided why not?