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She never intended to pick up a new best friend when Cú Chulainn joined the Battlegrounds. She was quite content with just Bellona. Everyone else either hated her or only wanted to fuck her and she was fine with that. It worked out in her favor, usually. She either got laid or she could use her annoying demeanor to distract in matches. It was familiar and it was fun and it was safe.
So, when Cú Chulainn joined the Battlegrounds, she’d simply wanted to sleep in his sheets. He was easy on the eyes with a temper to match and she assumed he’d be fun for a night. Things… never did work out that way.
Of course, she did end up in his sheets, but just not in the way she’d envisioned it. It was after a particularly rough match, one he’d put on his strong shoulders and carried to victory, and she was rather upset with the way she’d performed. She didn’t like to be the feeding one. She didn’t like when the other gods had a reason to make fun of her. She didn’t like when she heard them laughing at her and how weak they thought she was. She sits alone in the fountain, wiping her eyes, when he plops down next to her with a grunt. “What?” She hisses out of instinct, a nasty snarl on her pretty face. He only raises a brow at her, apparently not expecting the hostility. “I don’t want to hear it, whatever it is. I’m well aware of how poorly I did.”
“Poorly?” He parrots back and it sparks another flare of anger in her belly before he’s speaking again. “Came to thank ya, love. Wouldn’ have been able to stay in those fights without ya.” Now it’s her turn to look confused as she looks up at him through long locks of gold, a frown pulling at her lips.
“You’re just going to make fun of me now that you’ve said something nice, aren’t you?” Everyone liked to play that joke on her. Everyone except Bellona.
“Wasn’ plannin’ on it, Aphrodite.” She’s even more confused now, because she could have sworn he was supposed to be mean and angry. She wasn’t getting that impression at all right now. He reaches over and brushes a thumb over a tear she doesn’t even realize she’d shed. “Stop cryin’- ya did fine.”
“Shut up!” She hiccups and bats away his hand, but he just grabs her hands and gives them a squeeze. They’re warm and feel like home. She likes his hands. “Please… Please just be mean already.” It would be easier for her to deal with his inevitable dislike of her if he’d just start out that way.
He makes a thoughtful sound before he pulls both himself and her to their feet, letting go of her hands to tuck away some of the hair she’d let get out of place. “I think ya need the kindness,” she hates how right he is, but she’s slowly accepting that the Cú Chulainn she knew on the Battlegrounds was not the same one she’d know off of them. She likes both sides of him, but it’s hard for her to admit that without having to be vulnerable. “Ya also need a bath.”
“Ugh, why did I think you were nice?” He snorts and laughs, but it’s not at her for once and she likes being able to laugh with someone. “I hope you realize you’ll be stuck with me.”
“Oh?”
“And since you’ve oh so kindly pointed out that I need a bath, it’s my turn to let you know that you stink, Cú Chu.” He smells of sweat and blood and it’s not wholly unattractive, but if he was going to make comments about her state of cleanliness then she would return the favor. “So!” She claps her hands together, “You’re coming with me so we can get cleaned up and you can keep telling me about how amazing I am! Does that sound good?”
He rolls his eyes, but nods. It’s the first time of many that she smiles for him.
She finds herself clean and warm and wrapped up in the blankets on his bed not too long after that and watches as he peels off the towel he’d used to cover himself and then pulls on loungewear. He’s not as big of a man as she imagined him to be under all that baggy clothing, but he still makes for an impressive sight. Apparently, his aversion to real shirts extend even to the casual at home Cú Chulainn and she could purr in delight at the sight.
“Aren’t you a pretty thing?” She finds herself teasing, pulling the blanket a little tighter around herself with a playful smile. He turns his head with a raised brow, giving her a knowing look.
“Is this th’ part where ya wan’ me to tell ya that yer pretty too?”
“Well, of course! Am I?”
“Yer pretty annoyin’.” She lets out a squawk of indignation and throws a pillow at his laughing face with a pout. She was quickly learning that he was just as obnoxious as he was kind. “Go t’ sleep.”
“Will you sleep with me?” He raises both brows at that and she lets out a scoff. “Not like that- I just want someone to be a teddy bear for me.” Her plan to fuck Cú Chulainn has quickly been abandoned. She doesn’t want that anymore now that she knows what he’s actually like. She just wants someone to keep her warm and safe and it feels as if she’s known him for longer than just a few weeks spent fighting either together or against each other.
“Jus’ don’ suffocate me in my sleep.” He plops down on the bed after that, wiggling around to get comfortable and then she throws herself over his naked chest covered by nothing but one of the few shirts that he apparently hates. She closes her eyes with a hum as she presses her ear to his chest to listen to his heartbeat.
“I think I’ll like you, Cú Chulainn.” He reaches up to play with her hair and it helps to lull her faster to sleep.
“I think ya already do, lassie.”
“… I think you’re right.” She doesn’t realize that it’s the start of loyalty and family, doesn’t realize just how much he’ll mean to her given a little more time, but she does know that Cú Chulainn is more than a beast. “Thank you,” She finds herself whisper, listening to him hum something deep in his chest, and falls asleep feeling happy for the first time in a long time.