Marcus was exhausted.
His entire day had gone from normal college student problems to "Congratulations! You just summoned a gender-bent Greek god!"
And now, here he was, standing in a dimly lit alley, arguing with a literal deity.
"Okay, let's get this straight," Marcus exhaled, rubbing his temples. "You're telling me that you—the Zeus—just got yanked to Earth because of some 'foreign power' and now you're… what? Stuck here?"
Zeus, who had been stretching in the most obnoxiously seductive way possible, gave a lazy smile. "Not stuck. Visiting."
Marcus' eye twitched.
"Right. Visiting," he said, barely suppressing his irritation. "And you just happened to show up here? In this city? In this alley?"
She shrugged, shifting her stance. The way she moved was ridiculously distracting—every subtle tilt of her hips, every stretch of her arms, it was like she was built to be effortlessly alluring.
Marcus hated how his brain absolutely noticed.
"It wasn't by choice," Zeus admitted, cracking her neck. "Something called me here. I tried to ignore it—"
"Wait, you tried to ignore it?" Marcus cut in.
Zeus smirked. "You think a god—excuse me, a goddess—bows to anything so easily?" She flicked a strand of glowing white hair behind her shoulder, her fingers just barely ghosting over her collarbone in an unnecessarily sensual motion.
Marcus almost choked on his own saliva.
"Hhhkkh—" He coughed violently. "S-Stop doing that!"
Zeus tilted her head innocently. "Doing what?"
"That! The whole—" he gestured wildly at her, "moving like that!"
Her lips curled upward. "You mean existing?"
Marcus groaned into his hands. This was hell.
"Look," he sighed, "can you at least prove that you're actually Zeus and not some crazy lady with a god complex?"
Zeus blinked. Then scoffed. "Mortal, I have many things. A god complex is not one of them—I am a god."
"Goddess," Marcus corrected automatically.
"Yes, yes," she waved him off. "Anyway, if proof is what you want—" she grinned, and oh no, that was not a good grin. That was a 'you're about to regret asking that' grin.
Marcus instinctively took a step back. "What do you mean 'if proof is what I want'?"
Her brilliant blue eyes darkened into a sharp golden hue, flickering like lightning trapped in glass. A static charge filled the air, causing Marcus' hair to stand on end.
Then—BOOM.
Electricity crackled violently around Zeus' body, illuminating the entire alleyway with an unnatural light.
Marcus flinched so hard he nearly fell over. His fight-or-flight response slammed into full gear, and his brain screamed:
RUN. RUN, YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT.
But before he could even move, he blinked.
And suddenly—
He wasn't on the ground anymore.
He was floating.
No.
He was dangling.
Upside down.
Above the entire city.
"WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUU—"
Marcus' soul nearly left his body as the realization hit him—he was miles above New York City, dangling by his left leg.
Dangling in Zeus' grip.
She was floating effortlessly, holding him like a damn fish she just reeled in.
"So," she mused, tilting her head. "Do you believe me now?"
Marcus' brain completely short-circuited.
"YES! YES, I BELIEVE YOU! I BELIEVE YOU SO HARD RIGHT NOW! PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, PUT ME BACK DOWN!"
The moment the words left his mouth—boom.
Marcus found himself back on the ground, hugging it like it was the last Twinkie on Earth.
"I hate this," he muttered, face pressed against the concrete. "I hate everything."
Zeus, floating just above him, stretched her arms. "That was fun."
Marcus groaned, slowly pushing himself up. His body still shook from the experience of almost dying via sudden skydiving session.
"Okay," he breathed, "so you can go back now, right? To… wherever it is you came from? Olympus?"
Zeus nodded. "Yes, I can return whenever I please."
There was a long, painfully awkward silence.
Marcus stared at her. Zeus stared back.
"…So?" Marcus prodded.
Zeus shrugged. "So?"
Marcus' eye twitched. "So why aren't you leaving?"
She smiled. "It's been a while since I visited the lower world. I'm curious to see what you mortals have done with yourselves." She glanced around. "You've advanced quite a bit. Your cities are… impressive."
Marcus narrowed his eyes. "So basically, you don't want to go back."
Zeus casually turned her face away, whistling.
Marcus nearly lost his mind.
"OH COME ON!" he threw his hands up. "Just GO HOME!"
Zeus crossed her arms. "Mortal, I am not beholden to your demands."
"Goddess," Marcus corrected again, exasperated.
"Exactly." She smirked. "I am a goddess. I don't take orders from humans."
Marcus groaned, rubbing his face aggressively. "Fine. Whatever. Wander around, do whatever you want—just leave me out of it!"
Zeus hummed thoughtfully. "Very well. I shall take my leave and explore—"
She paused.
A flicker of something foreign crossed her expression.
Then, she frowned.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to summon her power—her golden irises flickered, electricity crackled—
But nothing happened.
Silence.
A heavy, awkward silence.
Marcus, who had been about to celebrate his newfound freedom, squinted.
"You uh… having some trouble there?"
Zeus whipped around, flustered. "Shut up!"
She tried again.
Nothing.
A third time.
Still nothing.
Her confident, arrogant demeanor faltered. Confused, she closed her eyes, focusing inward—she could feel her power, it was there, but… something was blocking it.
That's when she noticed it.
A subtle white glow from Marcus' hand.
Her gaze locked onto it.
Then, realization hit.
Zeus slowly looked up at Marcus, her playful expression shifting into something else. Something serious.
Marcus, blissfully unaware, raised a brow. "Uh… why are you looking at me like that?"
A small gust of wind blew between them.
Then—
"Who in the hells are you?" Zeus demanded.