Chapter 1
This is no ordinary love. It’s a love that fills your heart with rainbows, literally. But how did it come to this? Well, it didn’t start with sunshine. It began with thunderstorms and lightning. Aphrodite was going out of her mind trying to deal with her bickering cupids. That’s right, there’s more than one cupid. That story about Psyche and Cupid was just one of the dudes. Honestly, how can one guy go around the world shooting arrows at every couple in the entire world? He’s not Santa Claus. That guy only gets one season.
No, there are five kinds of love. The ever-practical Greeks believed there are five kinds of love: Eros (passionate love), Philia (affectionate love), Storge (familial love), Pragma (practical love), and Agape (selfless love). These were the names of the five muscled, tiny white robe-wearing, golden sandal, olive wreath-wearing cupids that were tasked with shooting people with arrows of golden hearts.
Eros, the head of the pack, had a love story with Psyche. He was the most handsome with his golden curls and ocean-blue eyes. Philia was a sweetheart with banana-bread brown hair and twinkling green eyes. Storge was a sturdy fella who had a trendy fade and mysterious violet eyes. Pragma, who you think would be bespeckled and have nutmeg-brown hair was the exact opposite. He had rich burgundy hair and peacock green-blue eyes. As for Agape, the youngest of the bunch, he was the dreamy Kdrama lead who could be both a rich chaebol and a sweet village head’s son.
A group of hot, lean, and good-looking, male-identifying gods that they were. However, each one worked alone. After all, there were billions of lonely souls searching for their fated mate. It was up to each cupid to get the timing just right so that a lovely couple could be born from the sting of two arrows.
So, what was driving Aphrodite insane? It just so happened that Pragma and Agape really, really hated each other guts. Pragma thought Agape was a weak ass cunt full of shit. Agape thought Pragma was a shallow, fair-weather bitch who used love for selfish reasons. Neither of them would give in to the other and their constant fights spilled over into their work.
During one of their matches, Pragma and Agape shot all their arrows at each other and ended up making a massive lovefest. However, since everyone was in selfless love with everyone, but still practical, they all became brokenhearted and some people tried to commit suicide out of despair.
Another time Agape shot Pragma and paired him with a cold-hearted nymph named Leticia. Pragma tried night and day to woe her by doing all her bidding only to have her confess she was in love with Apollo the whole time. Pragma’s senses came around though and he was smart enough to see that his love was not, well, practical. However, he flew into a rage when he discovered the whole thing to be a prank.
The gossip finally reached their boss’s ears and she’d had enough.
“Behold! I, Aphrodite, the most beautiful goddess of Mount Olympus do hereby announce the punishment of the cupid messengers, Pragma and Agape.”
Agape and Pragma bowed before the assembly. They glared at one another and then looked around at all of the gods standing around them on marble stairs encircling the main floor.
“You shall both be reborn as human twin brothers and suffer all the tribulations of life, together,” Aphrodite explained. “Then, you will know true love and, only, then, will you be allowed to return to Mount Olympus.”
“Twins?” The men shouted. What a terrifying thought! Not only to be human without any superpowers but to be related to each other by blood. It truly was a terrible punishment.
