the jared chronicles (felix and hades)
“Jared... Like the meme?”
He looked up at Felix with thinly veiled nervousness, hands trembling slightly at his sides as he glanced between him and the large sword sheathed at his hip.
“It’s... my real name.” He admitted. Felix paused for a moment before letting out a rich laugh, one that had him jumping slightly in surprise. He felt the familiar heat of embarrassment crawl up his neck as Felix wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m sorry, no, I wasn’t laughing at your name.” He managed to wheeze out before straightening to his full height. “But damn, you must’ve had a tough time in school.” Jared nodded slowly in confirmation. “My name didn’t help, I guess. And as for the game... I was only planning to play for a few minutes. Didn’t think I needed a username.” This earned him a thoughtful hum from his trainer, the older player shaking his head in mild amusement. Felix regarded the younger player with interest before resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“Well, it’s good to meet you, Jared. Happy to have you on the team.” The sincerity in his words caught him off guard. There was a comforting kindness in Felix’ touch, and a warmth in his words that had him blushing all the way to his ears. He stammered out a quick thanks before clearing his throat and walking away. It seems Catalyst may not be that bad after all...
He had been avoiding the man they called Hades like the plague. He’d heard stories about him... Heard about his unforgiving scowl, and his less than pleasant demeanor. Jared didn’t want to give in to guild gossip, but he supposed it was better safe than sorry.
He thinks he could go about his whole Catalyst life not speaking to the battle strategist. That would be ideal. Safe.
But ideal and safe never seemed to happen to him. Not with his luck. He swallowed thickly and turned to the man that seemed to tower over him, a (what seemed to be) thunderous expression on his face and a scroll in his left hand. Jared opened his mouth to say something, but found that no words seemed to come out.
Hades raised a brow at the younger player before slowly reaching over to rest the scroll atop the box he was holding. “You... need some help?” Jared still couldn’t find it in himself to reply. They stood there in silence for a couple more beats before Hades reached out to him. Jared squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation (what for, he didn’t really know) only to find the weight of what he had been holding gone from his arms.
“I think these go in the battle rooms. I was headed there anyway, I’ll come with you.” Jared cracked an eye open to find Hades reading one of the box labels with furrowed brows. Huh. Strange. He stammered out a (slightly unintelligible reply), only to freeze at the warm chuckle that came from the man before him.
“Jared. Calm down.” Hades swept past him, an amused smile playing on his face.
Jared decided he liked that smile. He wasn’t expecting it, but for a second he didn’t look all that scary.
“Hurry up, kid, I don’t have all day.” The startled jump was something he couldn’t help though...
