Aidoneus pulled out a phone and saw he had 23 missed calls and 30 missed texts. All his older brothers cussed him out and said how he lacked respect for their time. "Wasted their time" he scoffed to himself. 'Do they not realize that I took the blunt end of the family business? I'm doing all his dirty work while he sits eating grapes out of his wife's hands' Aidoneus gritted his teeth to that thought. He ran the lower districts of Atlas, gathering debts and keeping people in line. He had to hold the title of a ruthless tyrant while his brother got to reap the benefits of what Aidoneus does.
"Afentiko", Peter looked in the mirror back to his boss who was deep in thought. He's worked with Aidoneus long enough to know when he's in a mood.
"What?" Aidoneus said while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Would you like to change out of your outfit before we get to Zen's house?" Peter knew Aidoneus despised his brother and would do anything to get under his skin. He was hoping he wouldn't do anything today as today was already stressful due to the charity ball that the two older Doukas brothers made his boss take care of. They knew how much Aidoneus hated parties, and his failing would bring the brother's absolute joy.
Aidoneus stared out the window. "No, I'll show up like this, you know how I like to get a rise out of my brother" he stated as a smile crept across his face. He knew his brother would disapprove of him showing up in anything less than a suit and tie. Peter returned to paying attention to the road. He knew once his boss set his mind onto something there was no talking him out of it.
The clock soon turned to 11:00, as Peter drove up the smooth driveway that led up to an enormous mansion with old style Greek statues in the front. Aidoneus didn't like how flashy Zen was, he always told his older brother to tone it down on showing off, but it fell on deaf ears. As Peter pulled up to the front, Zen was standing outside waiting.
"Brother!" Zen boomed as Aidoneus stepped out of the car. Aidoneus met him with an eye roll as Zen's smile turned into a frown.
" What in the world are you wearing?!" Zen stated while looking his brother up and down. Aidoneus shrugged and started walking up the stairs to his brother.
" I wanted to run some errands and didn't feel like being spotted due to wearing overly flashy suits like you dear brother" he gestured to the suit Zen was wearing as he reached out to give his brother a handshake, instead Zen grabbed his hand and pulled him into a big bear hug, Aidoneus let out a surprised grunt from the unexpected force.
"Must you.... always hug me brother?" he managed to squeeze out that sentence. Aidoneus isn't a small man, but his brother towers over him while also basically having the muscle structure of a god.
Zen let go of Aidonous and held him at arm's length. He was glad his brother decided to show up, even though it was hours late past their scheduled meeting time.
"You know, you didn't have to go out and run errands in that atrocious outfit. That's what you have butlers and guards for!" he boomed while slapping Aidoneus 's back. Zen's voice was giving Aidoneus a headache, he never knew how to talk normally, and it didn't help that his voice was so thunderous.
"Because I have two perfectly healthy legs to run these errands on my own. I don't need to be inadequate because of people doing things for me. I'd prefer to keep myself sharp of the mind and nimble of the body" he adjusted his shirt to shrug off the hug that still lingered on his back. Zen looked at his brother oddly.
He knew his brother was the black sheep, the outcast due to his role in the city and company Technología, which provides all the current technology advancements in Atlas.
Aidoneus walked past his brother, "Let's get this done. I take it everyone else is here?" he questioned while walking up to the giant doors in front of him. He wasn't looking forward to seeing his other brother Hippio
'Always flashy' he thought as he looked at the doors before him. They looked to be made of gold, Aidoneus thought that that was prosperous due to the fact that it was a complete waste of valuable resources.
Zen walked up to his brother and gestured to his butler to open the grand doors. As the doors slowly opened, Aidoneus quickly stepped through the hold, he did not want to linger around his family, the faster this was done the sooner he could go back to hiding before the ball.
"Aidon!' a sweet familiar voice said. Aidoneus looked up and saw his sister Hestia running with arms open. He opened his arms to greet her. They embraced, with Aidoneus picking her up and twirling her. He despised his family, but his sister and Zen's wife are the only reasons why he puts up with his brothers' shenanigans.
"Adelfós*, I haven't seen you in forever! Why must you never visit me" Hestia pouted like a child.
Aidoneus patted his sister's head softly. He would love to see her more, but Hestia was an innocent 31-year-old who had no idea how brutal her younger brother had to be.
"Adelfí*, you know if I wasn't so busy doing Zen's dirty work, you'd know I'd be here more often to spoil you" he kissed the top of her blonde head. Hestia pouted and looked over at Zen. She puffed out her cheeks and glared at him.
* Adelfós: Brother Adelfí: Sister*
"Why must you work poor Aidon into the ground?" she questioned Zen while shaking her finger at her 6'8 brother. Zen sported the same blonde hair the whole family had, along with a neatly shaped beard that he rubbed as his sister chewed him out.
Hestia was only 5'3 and small but she was not afraid of her towering brothers. She used to pin them all down in their self-defense training, she knew how to use her size to her advantage. Hestia's anger started to show, and Zen did not want to deal with his older sister's aftermath.
"Calm down Hestia. Why are you so rude to me but so loving to Aidoneus ?" Zen pouted with a sad gleam in his light green eyes.
"Because someone has to put you in your place dear brother" she huffed, as her dark blue eyes flashed a hint of red.
"Adelfí, we don't need to renovate the house again because you cant control your anger" Zen pleaded. Hestia put her finger down and turned away from Zen. She burned his place on purpose and as long as that was known to Zen, she knew he'd at least back off a little bit from Aideonous during this visit.
"Come on Aidon, Hera and Hippio are here in the dining room." She turned on her heels nimbly and grabbed Aidoneus 's hand to guide him. Aidoneus knew where to go, he'd been there before, but due to the recent renovations he didn't recognize the inside of the house. 'Always flashy' he thought again and shook his head.
As they entered the dining area Aidoneus heard the laughter of Hera and Hippio. Hera's long flowing light brown hair bounced from her laughter. A maid was refilling their cups when she accidentally spilled some on Hippio.
"Watch what you're doing peasant!" he roared at the poor girl. His light blue eyes, with speaks of green penetrated through the young maids soul.
"Oh, calm down you big Oaf. She's new" Hera said while handing Hippio a napkin to clean himself up. Hera saw Hestia and Aidoneus enter the room, a big smile formed on her beautiful porcelain face, her light hazel eyes beamed. "Aidoneus ! It's about time you showed up, do you not own a clock?"
"No, I prefer to work on my time" he jokingly shrugged. Hera gave him a jokingly angry smirk.
She knew her brother-in-law was very punctual, unless it required a family meeting. Hestia let go of Aidoneus 's hand and went to take her place beside Hippio, the man was so large he barely fit in the chair, leaning forward watching his brothers every move, Hippio glared at Aidoneus .
Aidoneus started to walk to the far end of where he knew Zen would not sit, to avoid being close to him. The maid that spilled the wine on Hippio came over to fill his cup.
Aidoneus noticed the maid was refusing to look up. He was used to this treatment, even if it wasn't by maids or butlers. Everyone feared him, no one wanted to get to know him.
"Thank you" Aidoneus said smoothly to the maid. She was jolted a bit from hearing his voice so close to her. She wasn't used to being thanked; she was used to being told how slow she was due to being new. She was warned of how cruel Aidoneus was when she got hired by the other staff members. She nodded towards him and walked off. She did not want to risk making this man mad.
"So, now that we're all here, even though it's ..." Zen checked his watch while walking in to take his place next to his wife Hera "Two hours past our meeting time?" Zen cocked and eyebrow towards Aidoneus who was sipping his wine and looking out the window.
"Yes, so I've requested all of you here today to discuss Technologia with you all. The latest stocks are soaring, which is good news, we also have some new power awakenings happening" Zen started taking a sip of while glancing at Aidoneus .
The Doukas family was special, special in every way. They were incredibly good looking, and they all had powers that none of the other commoners had. Aidoneus was unfortunately the only one who had a small power range, but with what he lacked he made up in physical and mental strength. Either way, the subject of awakenings was touchy for Aidoneus , as he was constantly put on the back burner due to his. It's one of the reasons why he ended up with his position in the family.
"I feel you staring brother, get on with your report" Aidoneus sighed while crossing his hands under his chin to try and look interested. He glared at Zen; he really didn't want to hear these monthly reports.
Zen cleared his throat. "Our device we made has also picked up that there's been a slow increase of others awakening some sort of power around the lower part of Atlas's shopping district towards the Whistle Winds apartments that is located just at the beginning of the lower districts "he continued. "But as we know it is faulty because it'll pick up on a power surge from the city and alert us".
"Oh, that's around the area of Hera's shop, isn't it?" Hestia stated while looking at her sister. Hippio didn't look pleased.
"Yes, it is, I believe Aidoneus was in that area today running errands?" Hippio said while shooting him a condescending glance.
Aidoneus ignored his brother. He leaned back in his seat and took out his phone to scroll while Zen wrapped up his meeting. He noticed a new text message from his ex. He rolled his eyes 'Today is not my day' he thought to himself as Zen kept spewing numbers and nonsense on how excited he was about their new device. He never answered what Hippio was insinuating, he knew his brother knew he'd tell them if he saw anything strange or noteworthy of their attention. A flash of Kore popped up in his head.
"Aidoneus ? Hello? I've been asking you a question for the past minute brother!" Zen's eyebrow annoyingly twitched while watching his brother completely ignore the meeting.
Aidoneus snorted like he was jolted awake. "Excuse me, when you drone on about numbers and statistics, I get sleepy, it reminds me of bedtime" he stated while sticking his pinky in his ear pretending to clean it. He flicked the invisible contents towards his brother. He knew his fake hospitality would vanish soon and Aidoneus was feeling giddy with excitement that he was going to be the one to have him expose his true self.
"...I was asking if you have everything prepared for the Charity Ball this evening. You made sure it was an all-white event, correct?" Zen was starting to lose his patience.
"Yes, I made sure everything is set for your boring "all white" ball this evening. I was in the middle of heading to the Grand Terrence to make sure it was on schedule of being ready for everyone, but "someone" just had to blow my phone up and convince my driver to come here instead of letting me do my job" Aidoneus said while placing his hands on the table to get up.
"Where are..." Zen was cut off by a wave of a hand from Aidoneus like he was shooing away an annoying fly.
"I'm done, I have several other stops to do, and some people who I need to visit before I run home and play dress up for you, you big Oaf" he was already across the dining area and at the door.
"AIDONEUS !" Zen roared, the lights flickered, and the room shook. A sly smile crawled across Aidoneus 's face. He turned, slowly clapping and smiling at his brother.
"There he is! The man of the hour" he noticed how Hestia and Hera looked uncomfortable. Hippio stood up from his seat.
"How dare you, have you no respect? You should be thanking Zen for your position. You'd be a dog if it wasn't for him stepping in. APOLOGIZE NOW!" Hippio roared. Hippio's eyes started faintly glowing an oceanic green while Zen's was already yellow.
Aidoneus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Respectfully, go fuck yourselves. It was nice seeing you Hestia and Hera, I'm sorry" he genuinely looked hurt towards the two women and exited the dining room.
"Zen..." Hera placed her hand on her husbands forearm. She knew her husband was quick to anger. She didn't want to have him fuming all day and taking it out on the staff.
"It's ok, I should have known this was going to happen" he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You really need to teach him a lesson Zen. I can if you wish" Hippio sat partially on the table "Respect can be beaten into someone".
Hestia's eyes flicked red "Excuse me! No, you will not! We aren't children anymore being beaten by father. We have come to far to break each other!" she exclaimed as the table beneath her started to burn slightly.
"Hera, take Hestia out of here please, I'm in no mood to have a power struggle now" Zen shooed them off with the back of his hand. He wanted some time to speak to Hippio about Technología
.
"Come with me to check on my bridal shop?" Hera said with a smile and an outstretched hand towards Hestia. Hestia closed her eyes and accepted the hand. "Can we get some sweets on the way? You know how sweets calm me down" Hestia said shooting a wicked glance at her brothers. "Of course, dear" Hera said softly. Zen and Hippio watched the two women exit the room. Zen went to close the doors behind them.
"Now, Hippio, we can discuss how to get rid of these average people getting these power flare ups" he said with a cruel smile.
Peter was leaning against the car looking at his phone when Aidoneus busted through the front doors, his eyes were glowing a faint turquoise as he stormed towards Peter. Peter hurriedly put his phone away and stuffed the rest of his pastry in his mouth while opening the car door for Aidoneus .
"Chazós*!" Aidoneus spat while angrily throwing himself into the back seat crossing his arms. He was mad at himself for leaving the girls in such a predicament. He could care less about how Zen or Hippio's felt.
* chazós: twit, witless, nitwitted, rubberneck, simperer*
"Didn't go well I take it "Peter stated as he started up the car. He caught a glimpse of his boss through the rear-view mirror, he was pouting like a child. Aidoneus sat up a little more relaxed and adjusted his plaid shirts collar. Peter was a close, he always tried to convince his boss to try and get along with his brothers, after all they're family.
"Peter, if you weren't such a good bodyguard and driver, I would have had your head on a silver platter by now" he popped up his collar, he preferred his collars like this. Peter chuckled. He's known Aidoneus since he was a child. They met in elementary school and always had each other's back. 'The band of outcasts' he thought to himself. He knew Aidoneus was a real softy, heck, Aidoneus hired most of their friend group to work for him. They always had each other's backs, but neither of them could stand up to Zen, only Aidoneus had that power.
"Where to afentikó ?" Peter was already heading out the gates of the property. Aidoneus was flipping through his phone, he was shooting Hera a text apologizing about his behavior, and to inform her she might have a visitor to her shop that he sent.
"To the Grand Terrance Banquet Hall please Peter, we must make sure everything is to my "brothers" liking" he rolled his eyes.