Chapter Text
Maria Di Angelo woke up feeling ill. She didn’t have the energy today to do much at all. She had a sore throat and an irritating cough. She also didn’t have to be a doctor to know that she was too sick to go to Church today.
She sighed, picking a small flower —a Ciclamino— from her windowsill, and lighting a small candle at the kitchen bench. She sat on one of the stood and hovered the flower, the petals burning away and filling the room with an almost rose-smelling aroma.
“Hades,” She prayed, “Please, I need you here today.”
“Yes my Beloved?” He put a hand on her back. She jumped slightly, never able to get used to the way he could just appear from the shadows. “Did something bad happen?”
She turned around and faced him, pulling his lips in for a kiss. She pulled away last minute, her fingers gently caressing his cheek. “I’m not feeling well.” She muttered, “And it’s church day.”
Hades pulled back slowly, “Maria…” his voice was almost a whine, “Can’t their grandparents take them?”
Maria sighed, “They live too far away!” She coughed gently and Hades grabbed her as if she was about to pass into the Afterlife. “Please?” She whispered and his grip relaxed a little.
He sighed, “Fine.” She smiled at him. He slowly bent over, gently picking her up, “If I am going to do this though you are going to do something for me.” He smiled at her.
“Ooo scary~” Maria leaned into his chest, “Whatever could I do?” She broke into a coughing fit.
Once she stopped, Hades put her on the couch, wrapping a blanket around her, “You’re staying here, getting warm and relaxing with a book.”
She smiled at him, “Overprotective, much?”
He went to retort but Bianca gasped from the stairs. “Papa!” She smiled, running over and hugging him, “You’re here!”
Hades chuckled, “Yes my little Bianca, I’m here.” He patted her head and watched as Nico stumbled down the stairs, half asleep still and unknowing to Hades’s presence.
“Does that mean you’re coming to church with us today!?” Bianca looked up, her eyes full of hope.
Hades’s smile faltered, he quickly glanced at Maria and back to Bianca, “Yes, Your mother is sick so—“
“YES!” Bianca yelled, hugging his leg once more, “Nico!” She turned around and hugged her brother, startling him awake, “Papa is taking us to Church today!”
“Really?” He asked, glancing between Maria, Bianca then to Hades. He gasped when Hades nodded, “That's awesome!” Nico jumped around in excitement, “We can finally show our classmates that Papa isn’t Dead!”
Maria chuckled, “I heard one of the church members say that I was just ashamed to be a widow last time.” She said to Hades, “They’re convinced I’m a single mother.”
Hades’s smile became strained, “Oh well, at least after today they’ll leave you alone about it.”
…
The second the car parked outside the church, Bianca and Nico jumped out and rushed inside. Hades barely had time to tell them to be careful. He sighed, getting up out of the car and straightening his jacket. He was wearing a white button-up shirt with a pair of plain black dress-pants, he wore no tie and had a regular dark brown trench coat overtop.
Bianca had picked out her favorite dress to wear, a green one that stopped just below her knees. She paired it with some stockings and a pair of perfectly polished, black Mary-Janes. Nico had worn something similar to his father, but without the trench coat and his shirt was a pale blue instead.
Hades paused as he placed his hand on the door handle of the church. The kids had already rushed inside, eager to see their friends again. Hades was certainly not nervous, just… cautious as he was going into another religion’ place of worship. He put his hand down and opened the door, no time to dwell on that now.
Immediately it felt like people were staring at him, at this unknown in their church. He slowly scanned the room for Bianca and Nico, not wanting to lose them. It felt odd. He had been inside churches before, but either they were abandoned, or he was invisible to the other people (sometimes Thanatos would take the day off and so Hades would have to collect the souls, on rhose days plenty of Homophobes died in the act). As he did, he caught sight of an elderly woman approaching him. “Hello dear!” She smiled warmly at him and grabbed his hand, shaking it gently. He felt uneasy, which was a rare feeling for him. “I’m the Pastor’s wife, Agnes Mortensen, its a pleasure to see a new face.”
Hades smiled at her, “‘Mortensen’ that’s Norwegian, it means ‘Death’” he explained. Death was something that he… not really liked but it was his job and he knew it like the back of his hand. Death was to him as simple as breathing.
Agnes frowned, blinking at him a few times and then smiled. She chuckled nervously, “I… guess it does.” She paused, “And your name is?”
“I’m…” he didn’t think of a cover name, simply going by ‘Hades’ would be unacceptable in this environment. He had to think quickly… “I’m Damian.” He stretched, “Damian Di Angelo.”
Agnes softened, “Oh you must be Bianca and Nico’s uncle then, hm?”
Hades chuckled, “Actually I’m their father.”
“Oh forgive me!” Agnes laughed, “I had assumed that the lady took the Husband’s last name, but clearly you two wished to do something different.”
“It is quite common over where I’m from for the man to take his wife’s name or even for them to hyphenate.” Hades defended his wife, “I saw no reason she should take on my name when she was quite comfortable with her own.”
Agnes’s smile was now also strained, “Well, I’m glad to finally meet you, Bianca and Nico talk so much about you.” From her tone, it was obvious she wasn’t happy with him.
Hades hates it already, he thought Christians were supposed to follow God’s example, and be kind to everyone, to not judge others no matter what, and most importantly show good character to whomever they meet. Agnes seemed to be failing when it came to the simplest matters.
“I’d hope so,” Hades responded, “I would’ve come regularly but I often have to travel overseas for work and often find myself… unable—“ more like un willing— “To attend.”
Agnes swatted an invisible fly, “Oh it’s no trouble, plenty of members here travel for work.” He could tell she was being polite to not start a scene.
Hades was about to speak when a man came and put their hand around Agnes’s waist, she leaned into him. “Damian, this is my Husband, the Pastor.”
Mr. Mortensen leaned forward and shook his hand, “I’m Dante, it truly is a blessing that you could be here today.” He smiled, “I hope my wife was making you feel welcome?”
“My name is Damian.” They shook hands and Hades nodded to his question, “We were having a wonderful discussion about my children.”
“Oh!” The pastor seemed to perk up more, “You brought your children with you today?” He glanced around them.
Hades smiled softly at the thought of his beloved children. His brother’s and the olympians had too many to keep track of and Hades wondered if they even spared any love for them. “Yes. They’ve been going here for a while, Bianca and little Niccolo.”
Dante perked up, his wife now curiously silent beside him. “Really, you’re their father?”
“Yes.” He responded, “Is that so hard to believe? I couldn’t come before because of work—I have to travel for it.”
The pastor nodded, his wife speaking up again, “I’ve noticed you speak with an accent, is that from your travels?”
Hades smiled, “I’m Greek, but moved to America before I met Maria.” It had been where he first saw her. She was on vacation and admiring a sunset from the balcony of a hotel. He had seen her and thought she was just too beautiful. After she left New York, he travelled to Italy to formally meet her. They fell in love and… now here they are. “After that, I came here to be with her, but my company is still over there, so I need to travel.”
“Oh so you’re a businessman?” Dante asked and Hades slowly nodded.
“Yes, but it's quite small, hardly any influence over here.” That was the cover. Technically, he had multiple companies in America under different names. For instance, the Diamond digging and trade was practically all owned by him, so was a jewelry store, a records place, and a small flower shop that Persephone bugged him over.
The pastor and his wife still smiled, “It’s okay, we're not going to pry.” He glanced at his watch—and actually, that was one of Hades's diamon ds on his ring. Hilarious. “We’ll leave you be now, Agnes and I need to get ready for the sermon.”
Hades nodded like he understood and they walked off. He continued with his plan of spotting Bianca and Nico and making sure they were okay.
“See!” He heard Bianca shout and he turned around to see her and Nico being followed by a gaggle of children, “That’s our Papa!” She puffed out her chest and Hades genuinely smiled.
“Hello Bianca.” He patted her head, “And who are these little ones?”
“These are our friends!” Nico grinned and Hades chuckled.
One stepped forward, “Sorry for thinking you’re dead.” She shuffled her feet, “Please accept my apology, Mr. Di Angelo.”
Hades resisted a laugh at her formality. She had at least ten years before she was required to be speaking like that. He responded in like, to not upset her, “I accept your apology, miss?”
“Francesca.”
“I accept your apology, miss Francesca.” She smiled at him and he smiled back. Nico clung to his legs.
“Your hair’s funny.” One of the older boy’s scrunched up his nose at Hades.
Hades smirked, “How so?”
The boy looked at him and his face scrunched up, “It’s so black and how’s it white at the tips? Why is it so long? Real men don’t have long hair!”
Hades didn’t think his hair was long, in fact, it stopped just above his shoulders, although if it didn’t have that slight curl to it, it would sit just past his shoulders. In fact, his hair was a good length, and certainly wasn’t anything to be that distressed about. “Men can grow their hair however they like.” He said, “Whoever said otherwise doesn’t know a thing about being a ‘real’ man.”
The kid nodded slowly, “But father said—“
“Well clearly your father just wished he had the confidence to pull off long hair.” He smiled and stuck his chin up a little and the other kids laughed. “Don’t you agree Nico?”
Nico nodded, “When I get older I’m going to grow my hair out, that way it’ll be like your’s, Papa!” Hades’s non-existent heart clenched. He truly loved his children.
“I disagree.” Bianca crossed her arms, “Long hair makes you look girly Papa.”
Hades turned to her, “And what’s wrong with that?”
“Uh, everything!” Another boy piped up, “If you look girly that means that you cant fight! And you have to wear dresses and makeup and —bleh!” He stuck his tongue out.
Hades kept a serene smile on his face. This is why he avoided church. “If you think girls are disgusting then what? Do you like men more?”
The boy looked horrified, “Ew no that's gross!” He walked away, “Seriously dude, you sound like you need Jesus, or maybe a mental asylum…” the other kids glanced between the two and walked away, chattering amongst themselves.
Bianca pouted, “Papa what was that about?” She crossed her arms, “Now I’m not going to be cool.”
Nico still clung to Hades’s leg. “It doesn’t matter Bia, they were bullies anyways.”
Hades smiled, “How about we speak about this later?” Everyone was heading into the hall and becoming seated, “It looks like the service is about to start.”
Bianca and Nico groaned but headed inside anyways, Hades trailing behind them.
…
Hades sat quietly in the pews. He was watching his children more than he was paying attention to the sermon. He wasn't interested about Jesus's Christ, nor his mother Mary. Hades didn't know much about the religion, but he was confused as to why some people worshiped the Virgin Mary instead of her son, who was actually divine, and not the other way around. Humans sure were weird.
Bianca and Nico had been whispering to each other all this time. He knew logically that Maria would've told them off for whispering but, as he's said before, he doesn't really care. His children would be with him when they died anyways, so logically there was no point in going to church and learning about this Savior from a different religion and culture to what his children were born in.
He watched as his children got a little too rowdy. He leaned over and put his finger to his lips, telling them to be a little more quiet. They looked a little sheepish and sat back into the chair. Hades zoned back out.
…
“What a lovely service!” the man sitting next to Hades proclaimed afterwards. “Wouldn't you agree sir?”
Hades blinked, “Yes, it was quite lovely.” he really didn't know what it was about. Nor did he really understand what he was supposed to be doing next. The man left and Ades turned to Bianca and Nico, crouching down to their level, “were you two paying attention?”
Nico made a face and Bianca rushed to say “yes.” she said it In a way that he could tell it was a lie, though he didn't really need to, he saw her whispering to Nico the whole time.
“Don't lie, what would your mother say?” he sighed, “To be honest I didn't pay attention either, I just needed to know if anything important was brought up that someone might talk to me about.”
Nico thought for a moment. “I don't think so.” he shrugged, “I think it was the usual talk about being saved or going to hell.”
Hades rolled his eyes. Christians sure did like to talk about Hell and the end if the world. They were dramatic like that. “Sure, let's just head home before they can get a chance to ask us our opinion, okay?”
Bianca and Nico nodded.