FicWad

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One on One

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Galen was once again on his feet, disappearing into a small back office. "When she finds an interest, she turns it into art," his voice drifted back over the sounds of rummaging and ruffling of paper. He emerged carrying a small birdcage. "A few years ago, it was all about birds."

Neil took the cage as it was offered to him, peeking through the bars at the grey nightingale on its perch. As he watched, the little bird seemed to take on greater depth and color until it suddenly burst into a trill of song, startling him into dropping everything altogether. The melody was silenced as the cage clattered across the floor.

"Oops?" Neil offered lamely, reaching for it. "It's all right, isn't it?"

Galen scooped up the cage and offered it to the hero. "Don't worry about it." He tapped the cage with the finger and the nightingale was soon crooning softly, flitting about on its perch. "I'm the same, only better looking." As Neil watched, the color bleached from his cheeks until Galen appeared nothing more than what Pam was creating as they spoke: a sculpture.

Hesitantly, Neil reached out to touch his double's clay shoulder, running his fingers slowly toward the neck. In a blink, as he reached the collar bone, color and warmth had return and the blonde was looking into Galen's unwavering eyes. Startled, Neil blushed.

Galen gently took Neil's hand and held it loosely in his own, keeping their eyes locked on each other. "So, good-looking, will you let me woo you?"

Neil's thoughts seemed strangely leaden, focused on the fact that he was being indirectly complimented by himself and that it filled him with a strange sort of pleasure rather than on the question. "Huh?" he asked slowly, wondering if his eyes were the same color as Galen's.

"Do you want to go out tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like that." Neil handed back the nightingale, which had fallen silent, and stood. "I've got a meeting to get to." He glanced over at Pam, working in the corner. "When do you want me back?"

She jumped, concentration snapping back to the world around her outside the art. "Uh, art class tomorrow and after school again." Pamela wiped her hands on an apron and offered a nervous smile. "If you don't mind, that is."

He waved her off with his free hand. "Not at all. A model's work is never done."

Galen stood with him, bending down to kiss Neil's hand. "I'll walk you home when you're done, if you can manage to slip away." He winked. "And try not to let them bother you too much. They're just jealous."

The blonde nodded absently, preoccupied with how warm his hand felt. "I should go," he said, turning and walking to the door. He looked back and smiled, giving Galen a wink of his own. "Find me in the bushes from this morning." He slipped out of the room.

I'm probably crazy for doing this, but I don't really care, he thought to himself on the way to the janitor's closet. Chronus isn't behind this; I'm just being rewarded for being so fascinating. As he stepped through the shimmering barrier and took his place at the back of the prophesized seven, he added a snide, and rewarded for putting up with these uncultured oafs.

Hera appeared from an arched hallway, Aphrodite and Ares trailing behind her. She smiled warmly at her students as she stood before them. "Hello, heroes. I trust your studies went well today?" Mumbled replies chorused back to her and she continued. "You will continue your strategy training today with Odie taking the lead. Ares will be supervising." She gestured to the god of war who beckoned for them to follow. "Neil," Hera said quietly, stopping him. "Your mentor would like to have a word with you first."

"Come on, honey. We can talk in my room." Aphrodite grabbed his hand and led him off to her bower and the seashell bed within. A few of her attendants smiled and giggled when they entered, winking at Neil but he ignored them. "Have a seat, dear."

He did as she directed, perching on the edge of the clamshell, resisting the sudden urge to bounce. "What's up?"

Her hands were suddenly on her hips. "I'm afraid I did some looking into that Pamela girl you were talking about yesterday, and a teeny, tiny bit of snooping. Sweetie, do you know what you're getting into?"

"You were spying on me?" Neil chose to misinterpret what was being said to him, latching onto something he could protest. "Why?"

"I was worried, Neil. You have a pretty face, I won't argue with you, but falling in love with someone just because of it isn't a good idea. Not to mention the whole Narcissist thing isn't exactly healthy." She took a seat next to him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

Neil shrugged the hand off, getting to his feet and starting to pace. "I don't believe this. You of all people I thought would understand." He frowned. "I can take care of myself, Aphrodite. I am one of the chosen ones after all."

"I know, honey, I know. But still, that statue guy is just that, a statue. He's not real, and you shouldn't fall in love with your image painted on something that's not alive like you are." Aphrodite chewed nervously at her bottom lip. "After all, your ancestor met his end in a similar situation."

He turned on her, features twisted into a beautifully angry image. "How dare you," he said, standing over her. "I know the story and I know what happened, but this is completely different. For starters, Narcissus was cursed by you gods because he didn't pay attention to anyone else. Unless things have changed, I'm not very wanted." Neil turned away, running a hand over his face, trying to calm down. "And unless you've done something, or told one of your divine friends, I'm not cursed.

"Neil, sweetie, calm down. I didn't mean -" She was cut off.

"No one ever does," he said sadly, and left the bower of love and beauty.

Neil slipped into the practice room as quietly as he could, hoping that he wouldn't be noticed for a few minutes as he collected his thoughts. He couldn't believe that Aphrodite wouldn't trust him to know what he was doing, to give him some credit. I didn't blindly rush into this, I thought about it first. And, well, I think I'm doing the right thing.

A hand waving in front of his face broke him from his thoughts. "Neil?" Odie asked, snapping his fingers for good measure. At the blonde's clueless expression, he pointed to the entrance where Aphrodite stood, nervously wringing her hands.

"I didn't tell anyone," she said quietly and then turned and swept away. Neil pretended not to hear her, pulling out his monogrammed hand mirror and carefully checking his teeth.

Odie jumped in on the silence, holding up what looked like a new version of their PMRs. "Can you be lookout in this next scenario?"

"Yeah, we'll be able to hear him scream a kilometer away." Atlanta chuckled.

About to take the new gadget, Neil froze. He crossed his arms and turned to face her. "Excuse me?" He cast a glance at all of them, shaking his head at their blank or slightly puzzled expressions. "I'm tired. I'll see you back at the dorm." Unfortunately.

"Neil, wait," Jay's hand on his shoulder caused the blonde to stop. "What's bothering you?"

"What's bothering me? Gee, let me think about it. Maybe it's the fact that I've been the butt of every joke since joining this so-called team." He rolled his eyes heavily.

Archie shrugged. "Come on, man. It's all in good fun."

"Oh, so I can start poking fun at your heel? Or point out that Atlanta's probably easily distracted by shiny things?" He turned away from them, walking back toward the entrance to the school. "I don't make fun of your ancestors, so what makes you think I'm fair game?" he muttered under his breath. "I guess all's fair so long as it's in good fun."

He wasn't surprised when no one followed him. His bet was that Archie and Atlanta were mad at him now, Herry and Odie were keeping out of it, and Jay and Theresa were confused as to who to support and who to chastise. Some team, he thought.

He jumped a good few meters when he was pulled into a hug from behind a few minutes after leaving Olympia High. "You need to wear a bell or something," he hissed over the sound of his racing heart.

"Sorry, dear," Galen chuckled into Neil's hair. "So, you're all done? It seems a bit early." He turned the hero around so that he was hugging him properly. Slowly, Neil hugged back.

"Yeah, I'm done." The blonde's shoulders dropped slightly. "Done until they appreciate me, anyway."

Galen frowned, settling for holding Neil's hand as they started walking back toward the dorm. "They really don't know how great you are, do they? Wow. I knew the big burly one and the guy in the horrible blue sweat suite were dense, but everyone? You must have incredible patience." He gently swung their clasped hands. "Would you be up for starting our date early, then? To make you feel better?"

Neil considered. "I don't know about a full fledged date, but something to eat and someone to do things with sounds good right now." They stood in front of the dorm, looking up at the doors. "Just let me drop my stuff, first."

He quickly unlocked the door and slipped inside, tossing his bag on the couch and paying a brief visit to his room to check his hair and grab some extra money. A final mirror check and a hasty note saying that he was just, 'out,' and he was ready to go. He grabbed a jacket and was back out the door, a bit eager to get going before the others returned.

"How were you planning to disguise the fact that you look like me?" he asked, taking Galen's offered arm and trying to act casually about the entire situation. He was about to hang out with someone who was essentially himself. It was perfectly normal.

"No problem," Galen assured him. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out something that he placed on his head. "I have a hat."

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Hi. I'm finally inserting myself in this story. I will slowly get all the chapters for this up here, but it will probably be a bit slow going as I'm busy with several other projects.