c h a p t e r. 34

"It's wonderful to feel desired. There's a sense of power in it, really." -Nancy Horan

chapter 34

"Wait," Axel pressed his hands together, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I can actually fight you?"

Jazz crosses his arms, eyes narrowing as he looks the stupid D'Silvetta up and down, "You can if you don't explode from excitement, dummy."

"I'm not a dummy," He pointed at the musician. "You're the dummy, ugly."

There were on the beach a couple hours after the nightmare happened, Castor was right next to him, talking to Fly and Scar while him and Axel set the rules up with Nyx and Anadi-- who were all too amused to watch their best friend or boyfriend get his ass kicked.

"Shut up, A," Anadi sighed out, shoving her boyfriend's side. "You know damn well JJ looks better than you ever will."

"Oh, I know," Axel smugly replied, pretending to look his friend up and down. "He's smexy."

"I'm literally going to hurt you," Nyx warned, mint eyes narrowed at her bestie. "If you ever fucking call my little brother that again."

"Oh, come on," The stupid D'Silvetta whined, hazel eyes light with laughter. "Cutie doesn't mind and I get to annoy Cas with it."

"Stop annoying my butterfly," Jazz jabs his cheek-- and the little fucker bites him! "Ow, Axel! No biting, you walnut!"

Axel just laughs, manically so.

"Now I'm really going to kick your butt," He mutters, wiping the spit off of his hand with the stupid D'Silvetta's shirt. There were literal teeth marks on his skin. This dude is wacky.

"That's one way to make my ass sore," Axel breathes out, a chuckle to his voice, hands on his knees as he struggles to breath. Anadi was laughing too and Nyx looked completely unimpressed-- she was used to his bullshit by now.

Looking him dead in the eyes for a second, Jazz grabbed his entire face in his hand and pushed, sending him flat onto his ass and staring up at the sky in a daze.

"Man," Axel sighs, not realizing that Castor, Scar, and the tinsel blondie were walking up. "I'm so going to make you uglier, Jazz. Can't believe you did that."

The musician throws his hands up, "You were the one who bit me! What did you expect? Me not to mind that?"

"I didn't expect you to use that mammoth size body of yours and push me."

"That's like, really not my problem."

"Loser," Axel pushes himself to stand up, shaking out his arms. "Fight me!"

Jazz rose an eyebrow and straightened to his full height, easily getting another inch or two as the stupid D'Silvetta just shook his fights at him. A second goes by and Axel ends up laughing nervously, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"I forgot," He clears his throat. "That you were that tall."

"You just made a comment about me being a mammoth," He shot back.

"Have you looked in a mirror, my man?" Axel did a weird little twirl, blowing a kiss towards Castor who flipped him off in return, making the idiot grin. "You're very large." Then he pauses. "In all the right places."

Nyx, without pause, slapped the back of her best friend's head and dragged his head down to her height by his ear, the stupid D'Silvetta yelping the entire time, "Quit it, A, or I will make you sterile, you know Jazz gets anxious when you talk like that!"

"Ow, ow," Axel's face scrunches up, body squirming as he tries to get Nyx's grip to loosen but she's strong and it doesn't work. "Let go, ow!"

"I will be the one fighting you if you don't get your shit together, idiot." She snarls, giving a last yank to his ear before letting go and standing next to a laughing Anadi-- who expected no less chaos when her boyfriend is involved.

"Sorry, Cutie," He rubs his ear, glaring at the two girls. "I won't insinuate I know what your dick looks like anymore."

"Uh," Jazz honestly doesn't know how to reply to that.

"Speaking of dicks," Anadi cuts in, a wild smirk on her lips. "No hits below the belt, that's a little low, even for you A." Axel winks at her, making his girlfriend roll her eyes. "No biting, either. And remember, you grab Jazz's biceps, we're literally all going to beat you up. That a no-no."

"Wait, wait, about that," Axel turns to the musician. "Where's like, the range."

Jazz just stares with wide eyes for a couple seconds before moving to stand next to his friend, showing him by lightly grabbing the tops of his biceps and shaking the dude just because. "Here. Shoulder blades too."

"But why?" He scrunches his nose.

"Because I said so," Those words are not said easily. "And you'll respect that."

"I wasn't going to not respect that," Axel raises his arms in an innocent gesture, making Nyx snort.

"Right," She says. "It's not like you haven't done that before."

"That was an accident!" He's quick to defend himself. "Cutie tripped and I grabbed him, I didn't know he'd get a panic attack otherwise I would've let him fall."

"That's so nice," Nyx rolls her eyes.

"Question," Scar raises her hand, drawing everyone's attention and Jazz notices that Castor has a bit of moss mixed into his green. He... should probably ask about that once she's done talking. "Why are your biceps a no-no zone? 'Cause of the scars?"

"Yeah," Jazz rubs the back of his neck. "And the one who shall not be named cursed me to sing the coconut song every time someone touches me there. That too."

"Voldemort," Axel points at him.

"Exactly," He points back.

"Besides all that bullshit," Nyx said. "Are you guys actually going to fight now?"

"I'm not ready to lose yet," The stupid D'Silvetta blurts. "He's a hufflepuff but he's scary."

Fly spoke up, "I'm really starting to question your intelligence."

"He has none," Castor is quick to add, making all three girls laugh, Jazz smile, and Axel just frown.

"Alright, let's do this," He shakes out his hands, looking the musician up and down. "Strip."

Sighing, Jazz just pinches the bridge of his nose as Nyx slaps her best friend again.

He could practically feel his god's anger by now.

But like, it was valid.

No one likes having their boyfriend be told to trip by someone-- let alone someone as annoying and flirty as Axel is.

Castor's emotions were a bit more sensitive at the moment than usual, due to his anxiety and the nightmare, and Jazz could tell that he was barely holding it all together. So Axel making those stupid little comments was worse than usual.

For whatever reason, though, the god still wanted to see him spare (when he thought Damien would be the one he spared against, not Axel) before sparring with the musician himself. But if that's what he wanted to do, it's not like Jazz would stop him. He'll just be extra cautious of where he put his hands, knowing where the god had been hurt or scratched.

"Okay, but like, actually take your shirt off," Axel said, moving to be in the box that they made lines in the sand for the 'rink' to spare in, no going out so they didn't have any chance of accidentally hurting someone else. "I know you like to just fight in your shorts, which you're already wearing."

The stupid D'Silvetta was wearing sweatpants and a loose tank top, and Jazz put on some loose basketball shorts that he knew from experience would stay on if Axel accidentally-- or on purpose, who knows-- tried to tug it down and his long sleeve shirt.

"No comments about how ugly I look," Jazz narrowed his eyes as the idiot started to laugh. "Seriously, A, you either insult me or flirt with me, pick one."

"Or neither," Nyx grumbles, giving her best friend a 'you are annoying' look.

Axel makes a 'come at me' move with his hands and the musician laughs, tugging his shirt over his head and throws it at his older sister who scoffs at the action. His broad back is to the god, and when his friend's eyes widen and move from his chest, to his wrist, he follows the gaze.

The red marks made from Castor hitting or kneeing him during the nightmare are deep bruises now-- all dark colors and looking angry. The bandage over his wrist was white and a stark difference to his tan, tattooed skin.

"O-oh," Jazz rolled his shoulders anxiously, eyes widening.

When he turns to get his shirt back from Nyx, he heard the god take in a harsh breath and his mint eyes snapped over to Castor-- whose hands were cupping his mouth, tears in his eyes.

"You, you lied," The celestial hiccups, shoulders raised as his head tics to the side.

"Castor," He's quick to walk up to his boyfriend, bending to put their foreheads together as his hands loosely hold his hips. "I-I didn't want to make you feel worse. I promise that, that I'm okay. It's just a couple scratches and bruises."

The god continues to cry, anxiety, chartreuse, and olive pulsing above his head in an odd tune, all greens but distorted with horror. He shuffles closer and wraps his arms around the musician's neck, burying his face into his shoulder.

Jazz wraps his uninjured arm under Castor's thighs and pulls him up into a proper koala hug, looking to give him the max comfort that he could. In return, he wraps his legs around the musician's waist and chinched his arms tighter around him, too.

His injuries ached, but it was not enough pain to even bother him.

"You should- -Christmas lights- -have told me." His words are spoken in an angry, watery tone but he knows that the celestial is more upset with himself than anyone else. "I... I didn't know it was you."

"I know," Jazz murmurs softly, glancing above Castor's head to Fly, then flicks his eyes back to Axel with a pleading look.

Thankfully, the tinsel-songed man understood and quickly offered to warm up with Axel, who accepted while the three girls started their own sparring session.

"My star," He murmurs into the god's neck, moving to stand a little ways away so they could talk privately. "I really am okay. I knew you would never hurt me, not on purpose. Y-you were terrified and you were hurting yourself. I had to do something, this will heal without a problem. Please, please don't beat yourself up over this."

"I'm so--in Eden-- sorry," The god continues to apologize, holding onto Jazz tighter. "I'm so sorry. I didn't--" He squeaks three times, then growls. "I didn't mean to."

"You have nothing to apologize for," He says-- Castor snorts in reply, obviously disagreeing. "Hey, I'm being serious. If this was me, and our situation was reversed, you'd be saying the exact same thing I am. I've... I've hurt someone, I broke my sister's arm once in when I was having a bad dream. That wasn't my fault, it was an accident, just like this was an accident. Unless, of course, you wanted to hurt me."

"Of course-- Sasuke-- not!" Castor snapped, pulling back from his shoulder to glare up at him with tear-filled, lightning-strike eyes.

"That's my point," Jazz bumped their noses together. "These injuries-- they're not bad, not at all. I'd do it again, too. I care about you, Castor, you're mine, okay? If I get hurt helping you, then I get hurt. You've done the same thing."

"When?" He challenges.

"Catching me when I trip, only to fall with me. When I had my panic attack because of the fire drill and I couldn't see-- you hurt your hips. Beating up Axel. That wasn't just because he made you mad, it was about how he made you mad." He kisses his god, just a soft, small one. "I know you're possessive, and I don't mind it. I know you help me all the time. I'm allowed to help you."

Castor just stares at him so, because he's also panicking a little bit, growls at the god and-- because he couldn't stop it-- gets a growl right back.

Strangely, that seems to get his boyfriend to relax.

After a moment of silence, he asks, "How'd I hurt your wrist?"

"Nuh-uh," Jazz lifts the celestial closer but shakes his head. "It's not bad, and you'll only feel worse."

"I bit you, didn't I?" Castor guesses. "Scratched you?"

"Not telling." This he's going to be firm with.

"Just... will it scar?"

"Nope, not until I purposely make it worse." Then, seeing his boyfriend's face, quickly adds, "Which I'm not going to be doing."

Sighing, Castor hides his face against Jazz's shoulder-- only to bite him a second later, teeth digging into his collarbone. He jolts back, "That's exactly what I didn't-- Christmas lights-- want to fucking do!"

"You're okay, Star," Jazz chuckles, making his boyfriend glare at him. What a nice show of affection. "That barely hurt. I've bitten you more than you've done to me."

"Yours were on purpose," He stresses the word.

"Yeah, but it's not like you drew blood or anything. Besides, it's a little funny."

"It's not funny. Not at all."

"Excuse me, sir, I'm the one getting bit, I'm allowed to think it's funny."

Castor grunts at him, and he growls again making the god do the same thing.

"You're enjoying that, aren't you?" His boyfriend sighs, flexing his legs around the musician's waist, releasing one of his arms around his neck to wipe the tears from his face.

Jazz kisses his cheeks, and the hand that's still hovering in the air by their faces, "Immensely."

With a shout from Nyx, the musician walks back to the group and sets his god down on his feet, Castor grabbing his hips-- which, wow, never happened too much before and sent a jolt through him-- and leaned over to examine the bruises.

He tried to ignore the calloused but gentle hands against his skin but couldn't and flushed lightly, warming under his boyfriend's hands. He heard and saw Axel laughing at his reaction, making him glare and for Anadi to scold him.

Stupid D'Silvetta.

"These look like they hurt, Jasper," Castor's voice is moss-tinted and scolding.

"I'm clumsy and get bruises like these on a weekly basis, Star," He mumbles, squirming slightly in his spot. He can't decide if it's a good thing or not that the god stops touching him like that. "You just don't see me shirtless that often, but if you did you'd know I have one almost always on the top of my hip from that one annoying counter at home."

He usually wears a t-shirt to bed and a tank top when working out, unless he knows it'll be a particularly hard work out or one where he'll end up laying in the grass, then he won't put one on because he doesn't want them to stain.

"Here?" Castor brushes his fingers against his hip, turning his hand to trace the area as if he could see the remains of a bruise-- which he probably could. But it did so not help the direction his mind went.

"Ah, yeah," His muscles tense under the god's touch.

"You lying?" Castor turns his head up to look at Jazz, causing him to go a little more red. Then his other hand is coming up, holding onto his other hip.

"No, I'm not," He frowns at his star. "Someone just needs to punch me for my thoughts."

He laughs, "C'mon, lets fight."

As they get into the 'ring' and take the proper stances, Jazz is still a little scared of hurting his boyfriend, Fly and Nyx take one side while Anadi and Scar take another to be referees while Axel walks around recording what he deems 'worthy'.

"Three," His older sister starts, and the musician tenses. "Two, one-- go!"

Jazz is, for the most part, an offensive fighter-- he learned different forms of martial arts from his Tio Gus, how to street fight from his Tio Law, and how to do open-hand combat and defense from both his papa and his Auntie Fen.

He had a unique style and due to his body build, strength, and stamina he was a very hard opponent to go against.

From what he's seen, Castor is offensive too but knew how to use defensive blocks, too-- his fight from Axel is where he drew that assumption from.

He waited two seconds, one hand raised to his chin and the other by his chest, feet a shoulder width apart and his left one back a little-- he was ready for an attack... but it never came?

Instead, the god held his shoulders closer together, feet positioned for a quick escape and kept his arms raised and ready to block blows.

Jazz tilts his head, blinking at the god. He was being defensive? Huh?

Before he even got the chance to get his act together, Castor moved faster than he thought the celestial could and was behind the musician, whose body froze. Oh no, what if he turned around and hit him too hard? What if he elbowed him in the nose or something? His nose does get hit a lot--

Then he was on the ground, back to the sand, a god over his hips and pinning his arms down, gaping as everyone else cheered and his boyfriend grinned.

"Maybe you are a bottom," Castor cheekily commented.

Raising an eyebrow, Jazz jutted his hips up, pressing against the star and making him freeze, hands loosening and letting the musician gain the momentum to switch their positions, him now above his boyfriend and gently holding both his wrists together with a single hand.

"Oh," He smirked back. "Maybe being a bottom is a possibility."

By now, Castor was flushed and staring up at him with semi-wide lightning-strike eyes, while everyone else was absolutely cracking up with laughter, Nyx calling out to start the second set.

"I'm not a bottom," He grumbles, narrowing his eyes as if to say 'who does this dude think he is?'

"Well, you're definitely not on top."

"Let go of my hands and I can change that real fucking fast."

"Guys," Scar claps her hands and Jazz quickly goes red as he realizes everyone heard that. "Stop flirting or whatever, fight."

"What a mood killer." Fly snorts, the sound carrying through the air like twisting metal.

Jazz got off of Castor and stood, pulling the god up afterwards before retreating to his own corner of the ring.

Just like him, Castor got back into position and waited for Nyx's signal to go.

The musician circled his boyfriend, knowing he'll have to watch out for those quick pins, never letting him get behind him as he tries to either grab or hold the god instead of taking him down by brute force.

Castor is a good fighter. He has his technique down and real life experiences to back him up. But he's also only 5'10 and although strong, a slim man with a lean structure.

Jazz is a 6'5 massively built giant who works out on a regular basis and whose thigh is probably the same width across as the god's waist. He might be slower, but he also knows how to fight really well too.

The size and strength difference becomes apparent really fast.

The second round goes by a bit slow, both still feeling out the other's fighting style and exchanging numerous sets of attacks, none too painful or that would leave a bruise, and Jazz wins by a mere margin.

The next round, simply to luck and on an surprising clumsy move from Castor, the musician is able to pin him to his chest, dodging a headbutt that was a tic and not purposeful in order to do so-- one that the celestial didn't have to but apologized for anyways.

The fourth and last set, Jazz won again. His advanced techniques and graceful but strong style letting him get ahead and adapt faster.

Castor put up a good fight but even if someone is the better fighter, when they're going against an opponent that is that much bigger than them that simply doesn't matter.

As everyone else congratulated them for a good fight and went into their own conversations that dissolved into chaos as Viv and Ahmik joined the group, the god turned to his boyfriend with a frown, arms crossed.

"I can kick your ass," He states, all too grump and all too adorably.

Jazz laughs, kissing his slightly sweaty forehead, "I know, my star. You're a really good fighter."

"Yeah, well, if you weren't so big, I would've won," Castor's frown deepens, and lightning crashes with mint. "I didn't even know you could fight that well. What else are you hiding from me?"

That I love you, and I'm too scared to admit it.

"It's not my fault that you're tiny," Jazz retorted, ignoring his thoughts. "I don't hide much from you, I blurt it all out before I have the chance."

"Fair," The star scrunches his shoulders together, growling. "And for the last time, I'm not tiny."

Standing up straight and going chest to chest with his boyfriend, Jazz looks straight ahead-- putting his eye level well above what the celestial could reach. Not even his fluffy hair was in view.

"Uh-huh, not tiny, got it."

"I am not tiny! I'm average, I'm-- tiny, tiny, tiny--"

"See! Even your Tourette's knows it's true."

"I mean like, that's funny, but no, fuck you." There's amusement in the god's song that pretty much overrides everything else, but those emeralds that are becoming more and more fervent too.

"Fuck you?" Jazz steps back, bending at the waist to get eye-level with Castor, who was glaring but he only returns the look with a smirk. "If you say please."

"Please? I thought we already agreed you were the one sucking my dick," The god snarks out, and the musician laughs and replies back just as cockily.

"Again," he winks. "If you say please."