They left two hours late. Eros attempted to clean everything up with a flick of his wrist but it wasn't clean enough for Ganymede ("if I had all my powers back it would've been really easy to clean!"). Ganymede improvised with sudsy water from the cup.

Chiron slapped them into a cramped green bus, who had earlier shot down Ganymede's idea of flying. Horrible flower patterns and vomit-inducing platitudes decorated the van, and Eros and Ganymede watched in horror as the bus piled fuller and fuller, squeezing more and more people with lei garments and pineapple shirts and wreaths and long hair. Mostly people who looked way too old to still be doing this type of shit.

The seats were a bland shade of mauve, the leather ripped, exposing furry undercoats. Slick grime covered the windows, lined with loose change and hemp wraps and half-empty blister packs.

Ganymede could've settled for anything else. Travelling spirit magic. Guided labyrinth tour. Anything else.

Was this Chiron's way of payback? Hey, we know you fucked in the holy cabin or whatever.

Ganymede glanced at Eros nervously, who was actually taking things in stride. Right?

"Alright lucky lous and lovebirds, listen up," an older woman with frizzy hair barked. "I've only got a couple rules when you're rolling with the Cult of Love, and here they are."

She broke out into an ear-to-ear grin. "Go wild."

The bus erupted into cheers and commotion as she slammed the accelerator.

Hmmph. Ganymede wondered if the Cult of Love was part of Eros's domain. Eros, who was taking the window seat, had an expression that looked like the entire Cult of Love would make excellent sacrifices.

"Do you want to know how much sexual fluid we are sitting in right now?" Eros asked with a devilish smile.

Ganymede shook his head, "Spare me."

Eros's bow and arrow was stowed safely underneath his seat, whereas Ganymede had to hold his massive chalice and support it on his lap. Every time the bus hit a pothole, which was no doubt magnified by the maniacal driving and junkyard-ready vehicle, Ganymede's knees silently cursed the cup.

"What if you wore it like a hat?" Eros offered unhelpfully.

Pennsylvania rolled around rather quickly. The one-note scenery darted past Eros's eyes. Ganymede would give anything for a bit of help from Hermes right then. The bus seemed to accelerate faster and faster, yet the miles on the signage ticked down slowly, major cities still eons away.

Instead, Ganymede traced his finger around the eagles that decorated the cup. Their golden studs and gemstones flowing under his touch. Eros gave Ganymede a side glance before becoming suddenly interested in the blister packs.

"What do you think this one does?" Ganymede rolled a small blue pill between his thumb and index.

"Try it."

Eros paused, staring at the trees.

He exhaled.

"I think you need to let go."

Ganymede pressed against the beak of an eagle. "I just don't believe he could do that."

"Cast us out?"

"Like ragdolls and dirty laundry."

"Zeus, the jealous type? Whaaat? Ne-ver…"

"I'm serious. I think he loved me too deeply."

Eros stifled a laugh. "Apollo got the can for a slight hiccup in the Gaia-o-whatever incident, remember?"

"Zeus sleeps with other people all the time!"

"Exactly! And you can't do the same. Notice the issue?"

Ganymede's face contorted. Eros stared at him with deep pity and confusion. You don't need a god of love to see something so illuminatingly clear. What the hell?

"I was his personal cupbearer for millennia."

"And now you're my little cupbearer. Look, he could've picked anyone for that and I'm sure that –"

"Are you calling me disposable?"

"No! Just…disposable to him," Eros hastily backtracked.

"I sat in his throne room," Ganymede said wistfully.

Eros shot him an annoyed look. "Do you regret this?"

Eros stared at him, brow furrowing more as Ganymede took longer to respond.

"No. But it still hurts when I tried everything to make the transition smooth. I was upfront with our relation, and I was upfront with our relation," Ganymede pointed at the two of them with the last clause.

"And you're surprised that someone isn't hurt about that?"

"Enough to banish them to this hellhole?"

"Because Zeus is very well known for his clemency?"

Ganymede made a small exhale and rubbed his eyes.

Eros squinted at Ganymede. "You still love him."

"I do."

Eros wrapped his arm around Ganymede. "Earth isn't so bad, you're beginning to sound like me. You were here for a bit and survived. We are going to thrive in this place. I promise."

Nightfall cloaked the Cult of Love as they barreled into the devilish land of Ohio.

Eros watched as Ganymede drifted off onto his shoulder. Yes, my friends, the god of love had love problems. Problem?

Eros rapped his thumb over the eagles on the cup. Ugly birds. Bald, angular, hook-nosed, irate. Quite accurate. He wasn't scared of Zeus at all. Eros was a primordial deity! Borne out of Chaos, with Tartarus and Gaia. Eons more magic, more powerful, integral to the very bones of the universe. No one could escape the wrath of love – not Gaia, not the Olympians, and certainly not Zeus.

And yet, a thought flickered through Eros's mind. How could his abilities have been stripped away by Zeus, of all people? The old guy on top of the hill?

Never mind that, the main issue was cutting Zeus off from Ganymede. Millennia of bad influence. It was better that Ganymede was down here with him anyways.

It's not Zeus.

Does it matter? Eros snapped back.

Eros sensed and watched as Ganymede gained an erection. Beautiful and throbbing.

Was that for Zeus?

"Stop it," Eros said out loud. A lady in orange glanced from across the center aisle before going back to rest.

You're not the god of jealousy.

Ganymede was beautiful. His olive skin doused in moonlight, ruffled hair ebbing gently with the wind. Eros resisted the temptation to detect his darkest romantic desires. What love deity couldn't navigate this on their own? Besides, he wasn't sure if that even worked now.

Eros stared at the lady in orange. Besides her, a portly man with peace tattoos snored under a hat. He undid Ganymede's buttons and lapped gently, silently at his cock, swirling the precum around the foreskin. Ganymede tensed.

Eros slid the cock into his tongue. Large, yet well proportioned, Eros would've had some difficulty if he weren't, y'know, the god of sex and all. He lowered the glistening cock down his throat, bulging up against his neck. Ganymede's pulse quickened, his dick now pulsating, lubricating Eros with sweet fluid.

Eros inhaled deeply into Ganymede's crotch, his balls covered in musk (you're allowed to do that with a throat full of massive cock when you're Eros!). Slowly, he receded, inch by inch Ganymede's engorged prick came into view, slathered with precum and saliva that dripped onto his seat. Eros shuffled the cup that was resting on his lap forward to collect the juices, before swallowing his entire length in one sudden motion.

Ganymede grunted and jerked up, his cock slapping Eros's throat angrily. Thrashing around like a snake, Eros quickly sedated the beast by gyrating and bobbing. Ganymede moaned.

The lady in orange stirred. Why did Eros pick the window seat? Eros wondered if he could summon enough energy to use his arrows to sedate the woman. The woman tossed around before snoring again.

Eros's mouth was full of slime. He kissed Ganymede which tipped him over the edge (really?) and Eros had to practically jump on Ganymede to catch the deadly flow of cum that would've given Ganymede really bad hair. Ganymede, however, decided to jerk his legs up out of ecstasy, which caused the cup to jump into the air and somersault down the aisle.

Shit! Eros was quick, zipping up Ganymede's pants. Mouth still of cum, he scrambled for the cup as the mortals swiveled their heads to see who they could curse out for disturbing their sleep. Nope, the cup tumbled towards the front of the bus, past a grisly curtain and pathetic excuse for a divider.

Eros leapt over Ganymede, whose eyes were half-open and cross-eyed, his tongue rolling out. Eros dashed down the aisle.

Where was the cup?

Eros froze in the aisle, wobbling back and forth with each bump, scanning the room, bumping into the people next to him.

"Can you sit down?," a passenger snapped.

Eros would turn his testicles into frogs later. The front of the bus was no use to him. No passenger was carrying a large-ass chalice with them. Kinda hard to miss. The bus slowed.

"Sorry, to wake all of you, but Cleveland in one minute. Cleveland," the bus driver announced.

Eros dashed back.

"Ganymede."

"Huh?" he said groggily.

"Can't you summon your cup?"

"Where is it?"

Ganymede sat up in a frenzy, tapping his pockets as if it could fit there. They both began combing through the passengers, with apologetic looks and questions about the cup's whereabouts.

"Cleveland!"

The bus halted. A few passengers shuffled around and stood up.

"Has anyone seen a cup? A large chalice?" Eros called out, desperate.

This invited several rude stares from Eros's sleeping companions. Eros added more people to the genital-to-frog list.

"It's more of a tall Thermos. Yellow-gold kind of in color," said Ganymede.

"What?"

"The Mist…"

"The fuck is that?"

"Let them through," smiled the bus driver. "We'll find your Thermos. Or replace it."

Eros gritted his teeth. Passengers shuffled off, and the two gods sulked back.

"What the hell?" Ganymede whispered angrily.

"I don't know…" Eros began.

"Yes you do!"

"Okay...I gave you oral and you spasmed and dropped the cup."

"How is that my fault?!"

"We'll find it, we'll find it, calm down."

"I swear to the Gods Eros, if this damn cup is in a crack house somewhere in Cleveland…"

Eros was about to reply with a witty protest. Instead he blinked. "It's not."

"How do you know that?"

Eros motioned towards the window ever so slowly.

A giant beast, porcine, blood-stained tusks, a cacophony of shaggy hair, was matching the pace of the accelerating bus with ease. It widened its maw, allowing its grisly teeth to be displayed, and mashed between two large canines like a small chew toy, was the Cup of Ganymede.