by Gina Carra
Eros doesn’t stop smiling. “They’re only terrible pickup lines if they don’t work and they did.”
Helios watches as Eros’s eyes open to stare into his own.
Eros searches Helios’s expression and smiles.
Helios smiles back, running a hand through Eros’s hair. “How long have you known?”
Eros hums. “I don’t know if I understood what it was at first. For the longest time I was trying to figure out who was looking at you that I needed to shoot, but I couldn’t find someone who was there every time I felt it. Then one day I was falling asleep and I realized the only person that was there every time was me.”
Helios frowns and Eros is disappointed, thinking his story was very romantic. “So you realized logically, through a technicality?”
Eros frowns as well and scrambles to sit up. “Sol, I didn’t want to find someone else for you. I just thought it was part of my job. When I realized I could stop looking...”
Helios cups Eros’s cheek in his hand. “The God of Love, blushing under my hand.”
Eros holds his gaze. “Is it blush or a sunburn?”
Helios chokes out a laugh and Eros kisses him like that: laughing, sloppy, beautiful.
He tries not to let the guilt of finding love rise in him as Persephone and Hades suffer because of his actions. He tries to enjoy this moment, but there’s a black cloud over it.
Hades and Eros
It took Hades a moment to process what she was seeing.
Usually Eros would meet her and they’d run errands together on full moon days, but when Eros hadn’t showed, Hades had to carry on by herself. It’s not like she hadn’t been doing it alone for millennia before Eros befriended her.
But when she stared across the plain to see Eros with an arrow notched, it took her a moment to understand why.
It wasn’t really until the arrow hit her that she figured it out.
She blinked across the field and felt the effects of the arrow pulse through her. She didn’t move. She wasn’t sure how to react.
Luckily, Eros seemed to know.
Eros walked to her with a soft smile. “How do you feel?”
Hades snorted. “Honestly, Eros, you just shot me. It kind of hurts.”
Eros tsked. “I don’t know why it always hurts you. The humans never complain, you baby.”
Hades found her eyes flickering across Eros’s face, seeing him in a new light. She practically whined. “Why’d you do it?”
Eros caressed Hades’s cheek and it was electric to be touched by him. Eros had stopped caring about Hades being able to read him centuries ago. Hades knew how the arrow thing worked. She knew if Eros was supposed to shoot her like this, he would’ve done it when they first met. She knew this one wasn’t meant to be. She knew it would fade. “I think we both deserve a chance at love.”
With Eros’s hand cupping her cheek, Hades could actually feel the sincerity in his words. Eros’s memories floated in her mind like a familiar song playing in the background. She was used to them. It was comfortable. “You want this?”
Eros’s eyes flickered between hers. “I do.”
It’s more than Hades could ask for, to be looked at like that. Hades took a breath. “So how does this work, we just meet up once a month for the rest of eternity?”
Eros laughed. “It’s been working so far, right?”
Hades hummed and Eros didn’t have to ask to know that Hades was thinking of the 30 other days in the month that she would be alone in the Underworld. Hades cleared her throat. “Well if you were planning on christening it, you don’t have long.” She indicated the elongating shadows.
Eros rolled his eyes as Hades mocked one of the humans’ religions. He kept one hand on Hades’s face and used his other to tug Hades close by the small of her back.
Hades just watched, letting Eros take the lead. Eros watched Hades just as closely for permission. Hades sighed, impatient as their time ran out.
She knitted her fingers in the hair at the back of Eros’s neck and pressed their mouths together.
It was…honestly incredible. With the effects of the arrow still so fresh, Hades felt like she was floating. She never understood the appeal of Bacchus’s parties, but she got it then. It was intoxicating.
She kept moving her mouth with Eros’s and decided not to stop until time pulled them apart.
It took her a moment to slowly realize she didn’t feel the wind anymore, but she was still kissing Eros.
She backed away, blinking as Eros stood in front of her in the Underworld.
Eros looked around, just as shocked.
Hades was about to ask when Eros made a face and patted his chest thoughtfully. “It’s the arrow.”
Hades blinked at him.
Eros elaborated. “I can feel it. It kept me with you.”
Hades felt ice grip her heart. “You’re stuck with me?” Eros nodded slowly. “But what about…” Eros knew what she meant. What about his job? What about the earth? What about his friends?
Eros smiled, wide and unworried. “We’ll figure it out, Hades.”
✽✽✽
The first few days weren’t so bad.
It was practically a honeymoon. They had two days until Hermes could check in, so they took advantage of their extreme privacy.
Hades had slept with a lot of people. In a way, it was part of the job. They needed demigods around to take care of and understand the humans. But she’d never felt something for someone she slept with.
Eros knelt on her bed, eyes hungry yet patient. He peeled off his shirt and then they were skin to skin, his emotions pouring into her. This wasn’t a game. He cared for her. She finally understood what he’d been trying to teach her all this time—what real love felt like.
It happened as fast as it was slow.
Eros rested his hand on the back of Hades’s neck as he lay under her on the bed.
Hades met his gaze hungrily. She had to say it, “Eros,” she started.
“Hades.” Eros’s voice was a low, soft hum as he teased her.
Hades stared at him, shaking her head at the beauty of the man beneath her. “I’ve never felt like this before.”
Eros pulled her down for a kiss. “Me neither.”
Eros didn’t say a word as he kissed tears from Hades’s cheeks.
It was a lot, for both of them. But it was incredible.
When Eros woke up the next morning, naked next to Hades, all he could do was smile. She smiled back.
Right there, in that moment, she was in love. She was happy.
✽✽✽
A few days later, Hermes told them humanity was struggling to love with Eros missing. Relationships were falling apart, and kingdoms crumbled without marriages to keep the peace.
✽✽✽
A week later Eros was so weak he couldn’t get out of the bed. Hades didn’t leave him for a second. She curled into his side and made him laugh, complimented him, told him stories.
✽✽✽
The next week, Hades and Hermes started to worry that Eros wouldn’t make it. Hades made sure Hermes could prepare a lead arrow for the full moon. She didn’t tell Eros.
Hades yelled at Styx for some kind of help. She yelled for hours but no one was listening except for her lover, struggling to hold on to life in a world of death.
✽✽✽
The fourth week was a mess of Hades sobbing, begging Eros to hold on one more day, one more day, one more day, until finally the full moon rose and Hades carried Eros as they traveled back to earth.
Eros’s hand gripped the dirt under him and he took a breath like he had been drowning.
Hermes was very prompt in delivering the arrow.
There was no talking around it. Eros knew what it was and he knew Hades asked for it.
Eros shook his head, shivering and sobbing. “No. I won’t do it, Hades. I’ve never done it before. It’s too risky.”
Hades pressed the arrow into Eros’s hands. “I won’t let you
go back. One of us is going to lose this argument, Cue. I’d rather lose you than you lose your life.”
Eros shouted. “We’re supposed to be gods. How could I die? How is it possible that I was dying?”
Hades shook her head. “I watched you, Cue.” There was terror in Hades’s eyes. “I know what dying looks like. Don’t make me watch that again. Please.”
Eros tightened his grip on the lead arrow. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Hades laughed. “You can’t get rid of me that easy. This was never meant to last forever.”
Eros took ten consecutive deep breaths as he garnered the strength to notch the arrow. “I just thought we’d have longer.”
Hades smiled past the pain. “Sometimes beautiful things have to die.”
Eros pulled the string taut and let loose before he could think twice.
They both felt the lead arrow settle.
Hades’s tears stopped suddenly.
Eros watched her face. “Hades.”
Hades put her hand over her heart curiously. “I can’t feel it.”
Eros scooted forward to hold Hades’s hand, but Hades tugged away as the memories flooded through her. “Hades, what is it?”
Hades patted at her chest again. “I know I just felt all of this…pain. But it’s gone.”
Eros blinked at her. “That’s…good…right?”
Hades stared back and Eros saw a shell of the woman he loved.
Hades hummed and then she was gone.
Eros couldn’t feel the sunshine for the next month, but when Hades didn’t show up for the next full moon, he understood.
He wouldn’t see her again. Not for a long time.
Helios started following him around.
They’d been friends for a while, but he was assigned to keep an eye on Eros. Eros had a lot to do to get things back on track and he wasn’t exactly in the best mindset for it.
Helios brought him flowers and sang him songs and dragged Eros into a game of tag with some of the children in the nearby village.
Helios got him to smile again.
Helios got him to love again.
It was a couple of decades later that he realized just how potent that love was.
Elysium
Hades snaps out of her daydream as she hears the soft knocking sound of wood against rock and looks up as they reach the boat. It’s quite the walk, but there’s only the one boat.
She knows she could build another one, but she really doesn’t like using her powers if she doesn’t have to. It’s a waste of not just time and energy, but also space.
She had built that room for Persephone out of necessity.
She stares at the woman walking in front of her. It’s a little odd that Persephone wears such light clothes, both in color and weight. Hades is so used to her own black blending into the shadows around her, but Persephone’s favorite color is white.
She frowns. She shouldn’t know that. She hadn’t meant to read her, but there’s so much that she knows now. She clears her throat. “You can ask me questions.”
Persephone pauses ahead of her and turns. “Questions?”
Hades shrugs. “I…hadn’t meant to read you. It’s only fair if you ask me something.”
Hades stops beside her since Persephone hasn’t started walking again. She waits as Persephone looks at her and Hades finds herself wondering if it’s Persephone that can see souls. Hades wonders if she even has a soul to be seen.
The first question Persephone asks is one she hadn’t expected at all. “What’s your favorite food?”
Hades blinks before she frowns. “That’s what you want to know?”
Persephone shrugs with a smirk. “I haven’t had to eat down here, but it’s a little weird. I kind of miss it.”
Hades nods her head a bit to signal Persephone to keep walking, but as she starts to walk, Persephone waits and matches her steps with Hades. For a moment Hades feels like she’s on Earth with Eros. For a moment she feels like she’s in love again. Eros is the only one who’s ever walked with her like this. She swallows it back. “As stereotypical as it may sound, I really like fruit.”
Persephone snorts. “That’s very stereotypical of the god of death.”
Hades hums.
Persephone watches her and thinks of another question. “Why don’t you talk to me much? I know Eros. There’s no way you guys were in love if you were this reserved with him.”
Hades tries not to feel the pain associated with Persephone’s words. She knows Persephone didn’t mean to hurt her, so she presses on. “I’ve learned if I act myself too quickly with people, they believe I’m trying to trick them or seduce them or some other ridiculous thing. No one trusts me beyond what they expect from me. I have to act calm or even rude sometimes to get through a conversation.”
Persephone’s voice is honest and comfortable. “You don’t have to do that with me. You can laugh.”
Hades smiles a little wryly. “I appreciate that, but this situation…I haven’t really felt like laughing.”
Persephone breathes out heavily. “Wow, you hate me that much?” The sarcasm is thick in her voice.
Hades agrees, dishing back the sarcasm. “As the god of death, I despise colors and happiness and life, so naturally I despise you and your flowers.”
Persephone’s hand goes over her heart. “Your words cut deep, Hades.” She laughs a little, but Hades has a hard time matching the feeling. “You really hate them?” Her voice is sincere now, curious.
Hades shakes her head so violently her hair flies back and forth. Persephone finds herself smiling at it. “I would keep a garden down here if I could.”
Persephone smiles more fully at that. “What flowers would you grow?”
“Lilacs.” She smiles to herself as she expects Persephone’s reaction.
Persephone’s eyebrows shoot up and Hades can see a pulse of fondness radiate from her. She tries not to think about it too much. “Lilacs? You know what those mean right?”
Hades nods knowingly. “Joy of youth.”
Persephone blinks at her, still surprised. “Why would you want those down here?”
Hades shrugs, glancing at the River Styx that they’ve been walking along. “When your constant companions are the regretful stories of the old and dead, nothing is more beautiful to you than the joy of youth.”
Persephone stares at her and Hades actually meets her gaze for a moment. “What?”
Persephone shakes her head. “You’re much different than I expected.”
Hades laughs to herself. “I get that a lot.”
✽✽✽
Hebe stumbles out of bed to see Demeter right where she left him last night, on the couch reading Persephone’s letter over and over again.
Hebe snags the letter from Demeter’s hand.
Demeter stares at the air where the letter used to be.
Hebe frowns, “You’re going to drive yourself crazy. She’ll be back soon. We just have to wait for the full moon.”
Demeter nods, lack of sleep clear in his tired eyes. Hebe plops onto the couch next to him and Demeter falls over against her chest. Hebe huffs a laugh before tugging Demeter so they’re lying on the couch. “This is exactly what it feels like when a dog falls asleep on you and you’re too guilty to move.”
Demeter curls into her and grazes his teeth against her collarbone in a playful bite.
Hebe laughs and pets Demeter’s head. “Go to sleep. I’ll be here.”
Demeter sighs. “Shouldn’t you be off doing youthful things?”
Hebe laughs, but there’s something painful in it that Demeter’s too tired to pick up on. “Yeah, I should.” She doesn’t tell Demeter that there’s not a lot of youthfulness in the air with Persephone missing. Couple that with the famine and lots of kids are growing up very quickly. They’re becoming more resourceful and self-sufficient through necessity. It hurts Hebe to see. She tries to let children enjoy their youth for as long as she can, but sometimes it’s just not
possible.
Demeter falls asleep as Hebe runs her hands through his hair. She glances down at the man curled into her with a smile. At least one good thing came from all this.
Hebe never thought she’d fall in love.
✽✽✽
Hades stares at the boat for a moment. Persephone walks towards it, but Hades stops her, a hand on her waist. It’s not skin-to-skin contact so she doesn’t read her.
“Don’t touch the water. Not even a drop.”
Persephone glances at where the boat is floating and wonders how she’s supposed to accomplish that.
Hades frowns before tendrils of smoke appear and a small pier of sorts builds beside the boat. Persephone wonders for a moment how Hades usually gets on the boat if she built a pier like this just now.
They walk on the platform, but Hades grabs Persephone’s dress before she can step on.
Persephone shakes her off. “I’m not a kid. I can handle getting on a boat.”
She wants to glare at Hades, but there’s this faraway look in her eyes as she stares at the water. Persephone takes a breath and wills herself to trust Hades and be wary. Hades steps onto the boat first and then turns to offer Persephone her hand. She quickly withdraws it. Smoke flows over her fingers and leaves a glove on her hand. “Um. Just don’t touch my skin.” She offers her hand again and Persephone takes it.
Once Persephone is on the boat and seated, Hades’s eyes run along her body. Persephone’s not self-conscious about it, but even if she was, she can tell Hades’s eyes are scanning for water droplets.
Hades seems to deem Persephone safe and meets her eyes. Persephone’s watching her with a small smirk. Hades finds herself flush in embarrassment. “What?”
Persephone shakes her head. “Nothing.”
Hades grabs the oars and starts to steer them toward their destination.
Persephone watches her a moment. “I’ve never been to Venice.”
Hades snorts. “How have you never been to Venice? You’re Earthbound and immortal. You should have been everywhere by now.”
