Blake started putting away the items from his little “party” with Scott. Scott had been meditating these last six days, and went to the store, grabbing the first thing that looked like protein: party platter trays. Mike was no where to be found, and Blake had dropped in, having not heard from him in a while.
After a romp in bed, and after Scott fell asleep, he went to put things away. He thought, for a moment, about his response to Scott’s “Love you”. He responded the same to him, and it slipped right out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
Strangely, he wasn’t jealous. But then, he never was the jealous type, even with his wife. He didn’t mind Mike being a part of the group – he just didn’t want to fuck him. He wanted Scott, and only Scott, and even he didn’t know why.
The door opened as he put the lid on the last tray, and he heard Mike’s gruff voice, “Scott? You up?”
“He’s asleep,” said Blake, pulling open the fridge.
“Oh, hello, Blake.”
“Mike.” He started putting the items in, not having to move much around since it seems Mike hadn’t cooked for the last six days.
“Had a party and no one invited me?”
“No, your husband was hungry. I just left him upstairs.”
“Well used, I hope.”
Blake shrugged, and turned to him. He wasn’t a boaster, even while Mike leered at him. “He asked me to talk to you.”
“Oh?” He leaned against the cabinet doors. “Going to get married.”
“No,” stated Blake, and that came out too quickly as well. “No. He was telling me about your curse.”
“My curse.”
“That you can’t use the power of gods for your spells.”
“Something like that,” Mike said, now no longer leering, but getting serious. “Did Seph say any–”
“No, she didn’t.”
Mike frowned deeply. “Dammit.”
“I was going to say, Mike, why be the middleman?”
Mike looked at him and blinked, just like Scott had done. “You mean, I power my own spells?”
“Look, Mike, I don’t know jack shit about magic. But what I know is that instead of appealing to a higher power, why don’t you be the higher power?”
Mike looked around, shocked. “I need – I need worshipers.”
“Check.”
“Huh?”
“Your kids. Next?”
“I need to be immortal.”
“I’m sure there’s an app for that. Next.”
“But…hubris.” He whispered.
“Ah, hubris. Pride comes before a fall, right?” Blake laughed. “If I believed that, I wouldn’t be able to do my job. You’d be your own pantheon. It would just be you. You’re not taking anyone’s place. You’re not going to be among someone’s gods.”
“What about sacrifice?”
Blake shrugged. “Do you have to?”
Mike started walking to the couch. “A god. I become a god on my own.”
“Like I said, I know jack shit about magic, Mike. You might have to bloody some saint’s nose for all I know – but what I know, is that you probably got a lot of power on your own. You’re just scared to use it.” Blake looked up, quoting, “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.”
Mike whirled around at that. “Who said that?”
“I don’t know, one of the secretaries has it in her cubicle.” Blake set a chair back to its proper place and started to leave. “I can see you’re thinking. I’d better go.”
He shut the door, and Mike sunk into the chair, whispering, “A god…”