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“I didn’t know you grew fruits and vegetables back here, darling,” Jason said, his eyes widening slightly at the vast gardens that separated them from the foreboding castle in the distance that was the home to the Giver of Wealth, the Unseen One, the king of the Underworld.
Dick gave him a sheepish smile as Jason led the horse along the garden path. “Ah… right, you’re the god the spring. I probably should’ve showed you this instead of the library first, heh.”
“I actually rather liked the library,” Jason said seriously, giving Dick half a glance. “But this is…” He frowned, looking at the flowers that had sprouted along the path they walked on. They stretched their little leaves out, brushing Jason’s bare ankles as he walked past. “An interesting garden. Certainly not like the one I have on Earth or on Olympus.”
“My gardener is absolutely superb!” Dick said, sitting up a bit straighter on his horse. He righted the flower crown on his head. “No offense to you or your mother, but I’ve never tasted sweeter fruits in my immortal life!”
Jason gave Dick a dirty glare.
“I mean, I’ve never actually had any fruits grown by either you or your mother, of course,” Dick amended quickly. “Here, c’mon, I’ll take you to the orchards.” He pushed himself off the horse, crying out when he landed on his bandaged ankle.
Jason whirled around, immediately at Dick’s side. He grabbed Dick’s arm and put it around his own shoulders. “Gods, you’re stupid,” he muttered. “Didn’t I tell you to stay off your ankle?”
“Oops, I forgot,” Dick said with a little grin. “It’s fine though! It’s feeling much better than an hour ago though!” He lifted his leg a bit and gave it a little wiggle, only wincing a tiny bit. “See?” he said.
Jason rolled his eyes. “It’s still swollen, you idiot. And don’t lift your leg like that! It’s improper.” He quickly reached down and pulled Dick’s black tunic back over his leg.
“That’s improper?” Dick laughed as Jason hoisted him back onto the black horse. “Have you forgotten that we just climbed up Sisyphus Mountain to pick flowers?” He gestured to the crooked crown on his head. “And might I remind you that you thought it would be a good idea to dive into Lake Tantalus after that? Without anything on, if I may add. Whatever lives down in that lake definitely got an eyeful.”
“They won’t say anything,” Jason said with a slight smirk. “Their king jumped in after me.”
“Hey, I was clothed at least,” Dick countered.
Jason continued leading the horse along the path. “So much for that when we got the shore, and you were soaking wet while my clothes were dry. I’m not the one who looked like an idiot shivering on the shore for half an hour. Naked.”
“I wouldn’t have stood there for half an hour if you could swim faster!” Dick said, poking the tip of his sandal in between Jason’s shoulder blades.
“And you’re the one that made the lake so fucking large! Do you know how hard it is to find one person standing in the middle of a lake?” Jason asked. He paused for a second. “Tantalus is a lot shorter than I imagined.”
“Maybe he was shrinking back in fear,” Dick snickered, not unkindly. “Giant, naked man rising out of the water and growling at you to strip because the god of the Underworld needed to borrow his clothes," he said.
“Which never would have happened in the first place if you didn’t jump off in your clothes, darling,” Jason said.
“I would’ve stripped, if my ankle wasn’t injured from climbing up the mountain.”
“Which we wouldn’t have done so if you didn’t want to show me these flowers,” Jason grumbled.
“You said you wanted to see them!” Dick exclaimed.
Jason huffed. “You know what? Next time, let’s just go by chariot!”
“Agreed!” Dick said firmly.
“Good!”
“Very good!”
“Best idea you’ve had all day!”
They stubbornly fell into a silence. The trees above them became thicker as they passed oranges the size of two fists growing next to the rosy peaches just begging to be picked.
“Oh,” Dick said softly, the sound coming out like a breath of air. “The, uh, the orchard I wanted to show you is this way.” He nodded at the little path that broke off of the main road.
Jason led the horse down the path, his eyes scanning the trees. They passed grapefruit, papayas, plums, cherries and apples before Dick finally said, “Here!”
Jason stopped, the horse stopping obediently behind him. “Pomegranates?” He looked at Dick with a strange look on his face.
Dick gave him a smile. “I heard they were your favorite.” He made a move to dismount. Jason held out a hand, which Dick took.
Dick gently slid to the ground, Jason catching him before gently setting him onto the ground. Jason watched as Dick limped to the nearest tree, reaching up and with a wave of his hand, summoned one of the largest pomegranates into his hand.
He grinned as he came back to Jason. Gently, he broke it open, revealing the ruby red seeds inside. “Try?” he asked softly, offering the fruit to Jason.
The taller god’s eyes were wide with wonder. With his thumb, he broke three seeds away into his palm. They lay innocently in his hand, promising sweetness and tartness that Jason loved. He looked at Dick again, who stared at him with almost hopeful eyes.
“Jason?” Dick whispered, breaking Jason out of his thoughts.
“I…” Jason said, his eyes flickering back to the three tiny seeds. He swallowed hard. Then, he picked up one of the three seeds and pressed it to Dick’s lips. Jason watched as Dick’s pink tongue swipe out and brush against Jason’s thumb as he took the fruit into his mouth. The seed burst, and Jason pulled his thumb back with blood-red juice on it.
Without thinking, Jason licked it away, tasting the hint of pomegranate and something else. Dick’s eyes were comically wide now. Jason suddenly pulled Dick in by the hips, dropping the other two seeds. He mashed his lips against Dick’s chasing that same taste.
Dick’s mouth fell open with a small moan, and Jason kissed him. Dick let the fruit fall from his hands as he hooked his arms around Jason’s neck. In response, Jason pulled the older god tight against his chest, his tongue searching out the sweetness of the fruit and his lover. The flower crown slipped off of Dick's head, and neither of them noticed in their desperation to taste more of each other.
When Jason pulled away, the taste of the pomegranate was long gone. Dick’s spit-slick lips were still open and gasping for breath. His eyes were filled with adoration, and they only saw Jason.
“Jay…” Dick breathed.
“Yeah?”
“You made me waste perfectly good fruit,” he said. “One seed was consumed. By me.”
Jason grinned. “What can I say? You were the more tempting forbidden fruit.”
Dick blushed wildly and snorted. “Can you stop with the forbidden fruit thing? You’re stuck here with me either way since you ate that muffin I made last month.”
“It nearly gave me food poisoning,” Jason hummed, recalling the incident. “I’ve never seen anyone mistaken ambrosia extract with rattlesnake venom.”
Dick huffed, turning away and crossing his arms. “They were in similar bottles! And besides, they were burnt to a crisp anyway. I don’t know why you even tried it.”
Jason’s arms wrapped around Dick from behind, and he nuzzled his face into Dick’s neck. “Well, no one’s ever made anything specifically for me either, darling.”
“You- You sap,” Dick said weakly.
“You love me,” Jason teased, nibbling at Dick’s earlobe.
“I don’t. It’s very unfortunate now that I’m stuck with you now,” Dick said half-heartedly.
“No, it’s not. You’re going to marry me, and we’re going to be the power couple of Olympus, and I’m going to take you to meet my mother, and she’ll insult you about how colorless your wardrobe is but eventually give you her blessing, and we’re going to argue about who Cerberus likes more, and we’re going to play hooky when your advisors want to call another boring meeting, and I’m going to feed you pomegranate seeds late at night, and we’re going to live our best lives together, Dickie,” Jason whispered, tightening his arms around Dick with each promise. “Aren’t you looking forward to it?”
Dick found himself smiling unconsciously. “Yeah,” he whispered back, his voice cracking a bit. “Yeah, it sounds… amazing.”
Jason kissed his cheek gently and briefly let go to bend down and pick up half of the forgotten pomegranate. He blew gently on the fruit. All the dust magically lifted away, and all the bruised and crushed seeds became perfect and beautiful again.
Jason broke away a small handful of the ruby seeds. With a little smirk, he tossed the handful into his mouth, his teeth crushing the delicious fruit. Dick’s growing smile made them seem all the sweeter.
Jason could not help but smile back.
Dick burst out laughing upon seeing Jason’s bloody-looking smile. “You know, if you worked on it a bit, I think you can work as one of the Furies!”
Jason’s smile became a glare.
Dick laughed harder. “You’re officially hired!”
Jason swallowed and gave his teeth a quick lick, cleaning away all traces of juice. “Har har, very funny. Now back on the horse, asshole. We promised Alfred and Cerberus we’d be back before sundown. If we’re late, we’ll never go on an unsupervised date again.” He lifted Dick onto his horse.
“Not even after the wedding?” Dick asked, still grinning.
“You know we’re talking about Cerberus, right? Alfred might, but that dog of yours is a manipulative little shit, and you know I can’t say no to those sad eyes. Especially three pairs of them. Everyone might say that you’ve got me wrapped around your little finger, but it’s actually your damned dog.”
Dick gave an exaggerated gasp. “Are you marrying me for my dog?!”
“Well, it certainly isn’t for your cooking skills,” Jason said. “But I am also marrying you for your brains, your wit, your charm, and your handsome face.” The look Jason threw over his shoulder when he said those words was so fond that Dick was momentarily speechless.
“Uh, right,” was all he could say. Then, he blushed when Jason smiled at him. He looked away, flushing even more when Jason chuckled softly.
“Love you, Dickie,” Jason called.
“I… I love you too,” Dick squeaked, his insides melting into a puddle of soft, gushy feelings. “When- When’s the wedding again?”
“It’s this weekend, darling. Only four more days.”
Dick took a deep breath, unable to keep in the smile that spread across his face at that thought. “Right, right. Just checking.”
Jason laughed again, and like so many times before, Dick truly believed that he was the richest god there was.