Hades nodded. Then for good measure, he nodded again. He'd heard these things. The Olympians talked. Hermes talked too much. He'd seen her a couple times. A couple more than a couple times. Hades had figured out if he took a certain path, sometimes that path crossed with her path and she'd be talking to someone and he could hear a few sentences before they passed each other. But only if he went at a certain time, which Hades did not always do. He had willpower. He had loads of willpower.
Sometimes he stopped on the way too. But that wasn't because of her. People could drop dead anywhere. At any time. Very suddenly. It wasn't because of her. Sometimes Hades went to Olympus and dropped by on Demeter, but that wasn't because of her either. Demeter hated Hades. He didn't particularly like Demeter. They had always clashed. He didn't enjoy spending time with her. And she could be very clingy, and that terrified him. But she was family. That came with obligations. And he hadn't been keeping those obligations at all since the lots, so he had a lot of time to make up for. In any case, he was aware of these things already. And it had nothing to do with her.
But Hades had wanted the confirmation from the father, and to get an idea where Zeus stood. Now he had it. The idea of Zeus and Demeter together made Hades feel slightly nauseous, but he had it. Hades realized he'd stopped breathing the second Zeus started talking. He inhaled. "I think I'm in love with her."
The moment the words left his mouth, Hades was reminded of his earlier thought. This was a bad idea.