Chapter 1
A month after the end of the apocalypse, and everyone’s still at Sol temple. Why? That would be because the semi-dios were all in shambles.
Sure, there were no longer fire breathing roosters, or giant lizards, or rock-panthers to fight, and no shit moms for a certain someone to worry about, but there was also no moms at all. Or parents. Or literally any adults. The priests were almost all at the other temples, helping to bring order and relief to the cities. The dios’ were gone. And what do you get when you leave a ton of children unsupervised?
That’s right, absolute chaos. It had been fine for the first week, when everyone was recovering from wounds, and either incapacitated or with their friends. The second week was where it all started going downhill. Everyone was upset about losing a parent. Teo was too. Sure, he’d managed to negotiate annual visits, but that was once a year. It wasn’t even close to having them there always.
But, that was besides the point. It was in the history books, and Teo no longer had a choice in the matter. All he could do was try and keep everyone here from killing Xio. So far, Auristela had tried to fireball them twice, Ocelo had been batting them around as a jaguar the last time they went into the common room, though that had mostly just shaken them up, and everyone had been glaring at them. Except Dezi, and Atzi. Xio said Dezi looked at them with pity, and that was worse, and whenever Teo brought up Atzi, they just blushed and told him they didn’t know.
Now, did he blame the golds? Not really. He didn’t blame Xio, either, though, and that seemed to be what the others were doing. Kinda a pain in the ass, because Xio wasn’t doing so good dealing with this either. Their father was dead. Actually dead, not whatever had happened to the others. And while the others had had siblings come and visit them, despite Suerte’s dozen or so children, none had come.
So, Teo had taken it upon himself to cheer them up. He didn’t really know how to do that, so he’d just resorted to the basics. Sugar, hugs, and nintendo switches. Thankfully, it seemed to be working. That was why Teo was in the common room at midnight, Niya in a sugar coma on the ground, while Xio beat his ass at Smash Bros.
Aurelio was sitting on his other side, watching baking videos and looking up every couple of minutes to see his boyfriend getting his shit handed to him by someone who wasn’t even in high school yet. After the third loss, Teo groaned, crawling over to Aurelio and flopping down on the couch, scooting forward to rest his head on Aurelio’s lap, and holding out the controller. “Your turn...”
Xio frowned as they watched Teo hand the controller off to Aurelio. “No offense, but do you even know how to play? They don’t allow game consoles into the Academy, right?” They asked, tilting their head to the side as they looked up at Aurelio, before Auristela suddenly appeared next to them, peering over the edge of the couch. “They don’t. Your bird got him addicted to the game, and he snuck one in.”
“Wow, really?” Teo asked, looking up at Aurelio, who’s ears had turned red. “Yeah.” He said, as the game started. He was good, getting closer than Teo had to beating Xio, before getting knocked off. Teo sighed, glaring at Xio, who was grinning widely. “Welcome to the club–” He said, before realizing Ocelo was now in front of Xio.
“Fuck–don’t you dare–” Teo yelled, sitting up, his wings already extending to try and swat Ocelo away, Xio’s eyes wide as they pulled their knees to their chest in an attempt to protect themself, only for Ocelo to glare at Teo. “Give me that controller!” They yelled. Teo paused for a moment, before watching Aurelio toss the controller over to Ocelo, then wrapping an arm around Teo’s waist. “It’s fine. I think Ocelo would rather beat their ass in smash anyways.” He said, resting his head on Teo’s as they watched Ocelo sit down on the ottoman, crossing their legs and grumbling as they picked Rosalina.
Auristela snorted, calling the others over. Atzi frowned, walking over first. “What now—oh. Oh.” She said, grinning as she sat down next to Xio, and leaning back against the couch. “Marino, get the popcorn!” She yelled. Within minutes, Dezi, Marino, and Xochi hurried over, Marino with a bowl of popcorn. Xochi sat on the ground, leaning back against the ottoman, while Dezi sat next to Teo, smiling and sighing as the game started, and Marino sat on the floor in front of him, holding the bowl of popcorn out for the others to take.
Teo grabbed a handful as Xio selected Meta knight once more, a small smile forming on their face. Teo was surprised. Xio got hit off first, but those cards weren’t lying about Ocelo’s weakness. The next turn, Xio managed to get them to barrel right off the edge. After that it was over for Ocelo, as they got more and more annoyed, and eventually, angry. Atzi was in hysterics as Ocelo immediately called for a rematch, while Xochi groaned. “Please no..” She complained, sighing and resting her head in Ocelo’s lap.
The next round, Ocelo still lost, though it was much closer. At this point, Dezi was smiling widely, Teo had stolen the popcorn, Aurelio was watching Xio. Niya had woken up and was cheering for Xio, and Marino was rolling his eyes, while Atzi was cheering for Ocelo. “C’mon, Ocelo! You're really gonna lose to a traitorous middle schooler?” She asked, grinning, while Xochi rolled her eyes. “Your a middle schooler.” Xochi countered.
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By midnight, Teo had finished the popcorn, Aurelio had fallen asleep on him, Niya was out cold on the floor again, while everyone else was starting to wind down. Unfortunately, Ocelo and Xio were still going at it. “Fucking hell…guys, it’s almost 1AM. Can you wrap this up?” He asked, standing up and waking Niya up, and trying to get her back to her room.
“But I wanna watch Ocelo get their shit handed to them..” She mumbled, standing up and bumping into a wall before she made it into the hallway and to her room. Atzi had fallen asleep too, and Marino sighed, waking Dezi up before picking Atzi up, walking to their rooms.
Ocelo growled, glaring at the TV. “Get your traitor to quit first!” They yelled, once again getting pushed off, while Xio frowned. “You first!” They argued. Xochi groaned, grabbing the console from Ocelo, Teo doing the same for Xio. “Alright, bed, both of you.” He grumbled, picking Xio up by their hood and throwing them off the couch, where they frowned, stumbled, and then sat down again. Ocelo, their arms now transformed into thick, muscly jaguar paws, growled, before Auristela grabbed a spray bottle.
“No~! Come on, I would have won that one!--Gah, no, not the spray bottle!” They shrieked, throwing their paws up and hissing as Auristela sprayed them, before storming back to their room. Teo frowned “A spray bottle–does that actually work?” He asked, turning to Aurelio, who had somewhat woken up, and picked Xio up from the floor, who had been half asleep without the adrenaline coursing through them.
Aurelio nodded, carrying Xio to their room. “Yup. Long story.” He said, handing Xio over to Teo, who carried them the rest of the way back to their room. “Well, we’ve got all the time in the world now.” Teo said, setting Xio down on the mattress set on the ground next to his own bed, and laying down.
Aurelio smiled, nodding as he crawled into bed next to Teo, closing his eyes and sighing as he pulled Teo into his arms, Teo’s wings folding neatly into his back as Aurelio rubbed the space in between his wings, his fingers warmer than usual as they kneaded the tense muscle. “So, one time at the academy…”