Leyla Demir ♛ Persephone (anironqueen) wrote in mythologs, @ 2012-04-20 00:01:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | hades, persephone |
[completed/closed]
Characters: Hades (ofshadows) & Persephone (anironqueen)
Date/Time: April 18th, afternoon
Location: Central Park
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none.
Summary: A run goes not as planned.
Hades did not enjoy the return of spring. Many years ago, spring symbolized a loneliness that the god of the Underworld did not care to express in words. Yet even as he ignored it, it would haunt him, making him wish his duties in the Underworld were not so pressing.
The young man's temper was not evidently fouled, but for this portion of the year, there was always the deep desire to thrust himself into work and little else. But, this time around, after years and years - Persephone was here. There was nobody to pull her away, even if just for the meantime, and the time of year no longer dictated whether or not he would get to be with the one companion who understood him fully.
Not that he didn't enjoy leaving her a few meters behind him as they ran through Central Park. He looked back, throwing her a smirk, before gradually matching his pace to hers. He'd had his fun at her expense, but that was enough for now.
"You all right, old timer?" he teased, still. Honestly, when he'd mentioned her keeping up, Hades had been thinking of far more pleasurable exhaustion. But this was amusing in its own way.
Spring was her season, when her body felt more alive and she was thawed from the cold clutches of the winter season. It did symbolize her departure from the Underworld back into the arms of her mother, the loss of her husband for six months of the year. But she shared six with Hades and the decision had never been hers. Never to be taken, never to be kept or anything else.
But spring wasn't on her mind at all that moment. No, she hadn't even made it to the finish, hadn't even had a chance to really admire her younger husband's backside. Instead, she had slowed considerable, had put up her hands to cover her face to groan.
"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you," she chanted from behind her hands when she heard him nearby, fully aware that she hadn't suddenly caught up but that he had slowed her sake. "And I saw that look on your face, you horrible man."
"You said you could keep up," he countered-mock accusingly. Smug as he felt, Hades couldn't help the fondness that seeped into his tone. It seemed spring's loneliness affected him far more seriously as a boy than as a deathless god. He would have to work doubly to keep his bravado around his wife.
She'd begun referring to herself as wife again, he'd noticed. A big step, all things considered. He wondered if she would ever be amenable to being his wife this time around. Hades decided he'd drag her into it if he had to.
"And clearly you have the advantage. It's your season."
"This is no advantage. Do you realize how tempting everything is in spring? In winter feels as if it dulls the senses. And then in spring..." Her hands moved from her face and flew up toward the sky in an expressive and over-dramatic gesture. "It all comes back to life. Bakeries smell heavenly, coffee shops tempt not because of the warmth but because of the aroma. Foods are light tangy and crisp instead of heavy and meant to just keep you warm, everything you see is flooded with colour and the breeze doesn't make you want to curl up. Spring, Hades, is an awful distraction."
With her legs deciding it was over and she would never make it any further, she veered off toward the grass and promptly allowed herself to pitch down on to it. Rolling over on her back, arms stretched out at her sides, she groaned. Her body craved a hot bath and her tummy was demanding reward for her pathetic attempt to get in shape in a few days.
"And I still hate you for challenging me." She pointed at him. "You should know better."
Hades stopped, gracefully falling to sit beside her sprawled out body. "You don't hate me," he said, gently placing his hand over her head for a brief moment before withdrawing it as suddenly as it had come. "And it was a good excuse for you to be around..." He decided to steal her word. "All this temptation."
Cherish it, he added silently. In the Underworld, I would never have allowed this. And one day, they would return to the Underworld. Where else would all the Greek dead wind up? The others could have their Olympus - but leave the Underworld to Hades and all that he valued.
"Perhaps a swim, next time," Hades continued, a hint of humor to his tone. "So you do not overheat."
Speaking of overheat - Persephone would probably appreciate a bottle of water. He did the calculations mentally - yes, he had enough change in his pocket for water. And a cone of ice cream as well, he thought, eying the ice cream stall a few meters off. He'd seen enough of his wife's sweet tooth to know the little snack would go well appreciated.
The touch surprised her, a small 'oh' bubbling up. It was a gesture she couldn't dissect immediately. What could it have meant? Was it just absentminded (yet this was Hades), a sign of something? A silent message of some sort?
The answer didn't strike her. Moving past it and whatever it meant, she provided for him a smile. "Of course I don't hate you. But a swim. I think you want me to drown. Have you got an eye on someone else now? Is that it?" A finger waggled at him. "Is it Leuce? Minthe? Someone else?"
Jealousy had oddly never been Persephone's thing. Whether it stemmed from her original naive ways, her even-temper or the security that came with being his queen, she took more offense to someone not offering the gods proper respect. Minthe she took care of when the girl spoke against her. Leuce had come before her, someone long gone and harmless.
So there was no green-eyed monster residing in her breast. She had a collection of worries and concerned but jealousy would never be hers.
She then peered where he was looking and grinning in his direction. "Or instead of drowning me, you want me complaining of sticky fingers?"
"You cannot swim?" If so, he hadn't expected that. Wasn't spring nourished by water? The melted snow of winter, caught up by the roots of all the plants just fighting to bloom once more. Perhaps he should push for a swim. Hades would not want Persephone to drown, of course, but he was sorely tempted by the image of her floundering. Too amusing.
He'd purposely avoided her teasing on other women. Persephone was already confident enough in his affections for her. And should another catch his eye, he was more than certain she would handle it on her own terms. His wife had a unique brand of possession - one that skipped the messy emotions and went directly into action.
"I was thinking you might enjoy that," Hades admitted, looking down. "Along with a bottle of water."
"I can but I was never very good. Usually I like to stay where it's only three feet deep and relax," she admitted. "Or on those pool floats."
Should another woman catch his eye, Persephone would certainly be struck by uncertainty. Would she feel more injured because of her age? Because of his? Would it be because she had hesitated? How would she show this other woman her place? She couldn't go to Zeus, she wouldn't. She never had before and she wasn't about to in this life (thank you, Iron Queen pride). Would possessiveness strike her deeply more when she could do less about turning someone into a refreshing plant? It would be, no doubt, a tangled internal drama.
What was on her mind then, however, were sticky fingers and quite possibly putting them on the back of his neck. Smiling up at him with a decent amount of innocence, she nodded. "I'd appreciate it. I'll be right here, trying to remember how to move my legs again."
The idea of taking Persephone out for a swim solidified. But Hades would ply her with refreshments first. People were always easier to negotiate with when they were content. Or desperate. But hanging his wife's thirst and exhaustion over her head was not likely to be effective in the long run. Hades could be hard on her, a veritable brick wall if he so chose, but her behavior had panned out to Hades's liking over the weeks of their meetings. He had no reason to be cruel. (And the spring, though he didn't contemplate it any further, made him long for her.)
"Flavor?" he asked, fluidly pushing his weight off the grass.
"Surprise me!" she chirped, planning on walking him walk away. From her position, it would be enjoyable. No matter how she hesitated at times, no matter her still getting used to the way things were, she loved beautiful men. Hades was to be enjoyed.
Call it motivation to settle herself beside him again.