Strife stood, cloaked in invisibility, watching Ares and Joxer together on the bed. It's not fair, Strife thought. It's just not fair that I work so hard to get into Ares' pants, and Joxer gets it for nothing! And Ares...he doesn't get that I love him.

He had come to Ares' bedroom with the intent of seducing him, asking Ares to make love to him again like he had by the pond. Instead... he'd found Ares with Joxer. A mortal.

Strife had shed his clothes before coming to Ares' room so he stood naked now, watching Joxer touch Ares' body, watching Ares delve deeply into Joxer's smaller frame, kissing him and caressing him. Strife's hand was working his cock and he imagined that he was the one Ares was fucking, not Joxer. His breathing was ragged but quiet, and his shaft was jerking in his hands as he imagined Ares' cock sliding deep in his ass, Ares' hands stroking his cock. His seed shot out onto his hand the same time Joxer's marked Ares' chest. He watched Ares tenderly place a lingering kiss on Joxer's lips, then draw the slight body close to his. Joxer's arms slipped around Ares, and Ares smiled regretfully. "I have to leave," Ares whispered into Joxer's ear, nuzzling it. "I--there's a war I have to start." Placing another kiss on Joxer's lips, Ares vanished, leaving Joxer alone. That kiss made Strife harden again, imagining he was kissing Ares.

Strife made himself visible, and walked over to Joxer. "You. What do *you* have to give to the God of War that I can't" he whispered. "What do you do for him that I don't?"

Joxer lay on the bed, eyes closed and body limp, a sated smile on his face. But his eyes snapped open when he heard a whispering voice. "Hiya, Strife. Ares isn't here, he just left." Joxer watched with nervous eyes as Strife drew closer, reaching out a hand to touch Joxer's still prone body.

Strife trailed his fingertips along Joxer's bare chest, lingering to play with the nipples that puckered under his toying fingers. "Is it because you're so responsive?" Strife asked. "Or is it because you're mortal, and fragile?" he wondered, pinching folds of the white skin between his fingers, leaving vivid red marks. So sensitive, so soft.

"Strife! What...don't!" Joxer tried to push Strife's hands away.

Strife felt Joxer's eyes on him, felt the nervous body twitching slightly under his hands, but he couldn't meet Joxer's gaze. He almost thought that he could hear the mortal's racing heart.

"I wanna know what you do for Ares, mortal," Strife whispered. I wanna know so I can do it for him, too. The way he does it for me. "I wanna see what's so...special... about you. What makes him want to fuck you." Strife steeled himself to look into Joxer's eyes but he was still unprepared for the intensity and fear that shone from them.

Joxer kept his gaze on Strife. There was something in the god's expression... With a sudden burst of clarity he *knew* that Strife and Ares had been lovers. With this realization, he could empathize with Strife, with the god's desire to understand.

Strife continued to explore Joxer's naked body. His hands ran down the smooth skin of Joxer's stomach, then his hips. Strife's hands roughly rotated Joxer's hips, watching the mortal's cock begin to swell. "Is it the way you move under him when he fucks you?" Strife asked, once more seeing in his mind's eye Joxer and Ares rocking together.

At Strife's words, Joxer's quiet submission dissolved into something else. "Leave me alone!" Joxer cried. "Stop touching me!" He tried to wiggle off the bed, away from the feelings Strife was raising in his body but Strife held him still. "Let me go!"

Strife carefully wrapped a slender hand around Joxer's graceful neck. "Sssh." Then his attention was drawn to the play of muscles under his hand as Joxer strained not to whimper or cry out. Strife trailed his hand down Joxer's throat to where the pulse beat beneath the skin. The gentle throb seemed to beckon Strife's mouth, and he touched his lips to it, biting the skin over it and feeling it pulse against his tongue.

Joxer whimpered softly as Strife's mouth worked the tender flesh of his neck. Ares liked to do that... and that thought caused Joxer to arch his neck more under Strife, a silent plea for...

He's scared...but he's still getting off on this, Strife realized. The soft whimpers and moans and then the tightening of Joxer's arching throat were also having their own effect on the god. Despite his anger and his jealousy, Strife was beginning to take pleasure in the feel of Joxer's responses to his touch.

Strife released the flesh and noticed a mark was already beginning to form on Joxer's neck. Let it, Strife thought. Let Ares see it, and know that *his* lover got nailed again, too--by someone else. Strife continued his exploration of Joxer's body, holding him down and ignoring his weakening protests as Strife returned his attention to Joxer's hips.

Strife, seeing the effect of his touches in Joxer's hardening cock, stroked the flesh between the mortal's thighs. "Is it how you taste?" Strife asked, lowering his head to suck Joxer's shaft into his mouth.

The semi-hard flesh in Strife's mouth continued to grow under his tongue, lengthening and thickening as he drew on it. He stopped when he heard Joxer moaning, realizing that Joxer's cock was leaking already, but reluctant to give him the pleasure of an orgasm.

"Or is it the way you suck him off?" Strife whispered, moving to straddle Joxer's shuddering body. He leaned down and parted Joxer's lips with his tongue, sinking into the sensation of Joxer's mouth against his. Slowly and regretfully, he pulled away from the kiss. Joxer's lips remained parted, and Strife pushed his cock into Joxer's hot, wet mouth.

Joxer's lips closed around Strife's shaft, and suddenly Strife began to understand why Ares might enjoy fucking Joxer. Joxer's mouth sucked Strife's length down into his throat, his lips touching the base of Strife's cock. His hands clamped on Joxer's slender shoulders while Joxer's mouth slid wetly up and down his cock, and Joxer's tongue teased the head, greedily swallowing the spurting semen.

Strife withdrew from Joxer's mouth, still hard even after coming. I'm starting to get it, mortal. I'm starting to see what you do for him. You want it. You love it. And you're good at it. Can I go up against this? Do I *want* to go up against this?

Strife's eyes met Joxer's and he could read Joxer's thoughts in them. The mortal looked at him differently now, recognizing that the god no longer hated him, no longer resented him. Strife realized Joxer was right. Somewhere down the line, I lost it. I don't wanna hurt him.

Those dark, liquid eyes blinked as Strife lowered his head again, and soft lips touched Joxer's, drawing a long kiss from them. Strife's tongue parted Joxer's lips and darted in to stroke the mortal's soft, warm tongue before drawing it into his own mouth.

Strife was surprised to hear Joxer's soft voice whispering against his lips. "Take me," the whisper begged. "You made me hard, now take me, please." Something in the tone of Joxer's voice made Strife stop and gaze down at the mortal lying willing and even eager beneath him. Joxer met his gaze, soft brown eyes filled with conflicting emotions and desire. Strife realized, gazing into those eyes, that he was learning to appreciate Joxer's appeal, the individual things about him that made up the whole of his unconventional beauty.

Strife also realized something else... he was no longer taking Joxer to hurt Ares, he was taking Joxer because he wanted to. That realization washed over him, bathing his body in a wave of hot desire for Joxer. It also startled Strife. He hadn't intended to take Joxer at all, only to torment him, and then leave him unsatisfied. Now, that thought was unbearable.

He moved off Joxer and down to the other end of the bed to reach the bottle of lotion when Joxer's whisper again stopped him. "No, wait... don't go."

Strife moved back up a little and stroked Joxer's hair. So scared and fragile. And beautiful. I don't really hate you... not now. Damn it, I can't. "I won't be long, Joxer," he said, dropping a light kiss on Joxer's mouth.

He moved quickly down the bed, picked up the bottle of citrus-scented cream and returned. He was surprised when Joxer took the bottle out of his hands and emptied some onto his palms, rubbing the cream onto Strife's shaft, his long, elegant fingers smoothing it and caressing it as he worked.

Strife gently pushed Joxer's hands away from his cock and he slid between Joxer's legs. He wrapped those legs around his waist and his cock sought the tight little opening. Finding it, he eased into Joxer, slowly at first, then deeper, the mortal pushing back against his cock.

Strife abandoned all intentions of going slowly, of savoring this encounter when Joxer thrust back against him. He thrust savagely, pounding Joxer's ass with long, steady strokes. Joxer's hands had reached up for him, and Strife leaned in, letting Joxer's graceful fingers tweak and twist his nipples.

As he felt Joxer's hands on his body, he was jolted with a sudden realization. Ares... he touched Ares like this before. That thought sent a surge of power through Strife and he thrust into Joxer harder. In response, Joxer's hands slid to Strife's back and pulled him closer, and Strife again saw Joxer drawing Ares close. But now, it's *my* turn. My mark on him, my cock in him, my body he's holding. Mine.

He reached beside Joxer and picked up the bottle again, pouring a little of the creamy lotion into his hand. That slick hand grasped Joxer's cock between them and pumped it, the fevered flesh sliding effortlessly in and out of Strife's clenched fist.

Joxer came first, with his body tightening around Strife as his seed spewed between them.

Strife savored the contractions that milked his shaft dry, Joxer's muscles clenching and unclenching around him, forcing his seed deep into Joxer's unresisting body.

Strife withdrew, and gently cuddled close the mortal he'd come to appreciate in such a short time. Joxer's head lay in the hollow of Strife's shoulder, his elegant fingers gently stroking Strife's. Neither said a word, but Strife was lost in his own thoughts. Whoa. *Now* I get it. Now I get what he sees in you. If only *I* didn't see it.... If only I didn't love you both.