Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The days were drawn out and the nights seemed just as long, maybe even longer. The lights from building to the billboards of electronic illumination kept the streets light during the darkness. Other city lines couldn’t be compared to the City of Olympus, for it held secrets and dreams none could comprehend. Its sewer lines were filled with whispers, gossip ran from manhole to manhole. No one was safe. 

This wasn’t the beginning of it either. 

As he walked up the steps to a building, his eyes although glimmering in reflection held no emotion. Cold, distant and recluse were his hand as it pulled on the cooled handle of a door marked ‘Pull’. The sign dangling above him in dim yellow lights read,

‘ Hestia’s House.’ The sign had an accenting cup of coffee plastered behind the words in their slanted glory, and the beams of luminosity coming from each window furthered the warm environment inside. He walked through the door, vibrant blue eyes searching the cafe for a specific visitor, someone he had to see. It wasn’t long before he saw her. Her long, black and flowing hair wasn’t as inviting as her face though. Her features were dainty, small nose, black long nails, and plump lips completed her look. She was although, much older than she looked and her forehead held a crescent moon to symbolize her personified nature. The male began to take off the charcoal coloured trench coat that completed his deep navy suit to complement his eyes and aesthetic. As he sat down in front of her, she smiled, placing a slim and dark phone onto the cafe table and resting her head between her hands to look at him in all his messy but composed presence. 

“Hades! It’s great to see you, I must say though... When you contacted me I was rather worried.” Her aged tone purred, her sympathetic eyebrows lifting in response to her thoughts about his phone call a week prior. His eyes drooped in response, Hades had been known for ignoring people’s texts, and once coming from the Underworld he wasn’t sure what the crowd response would be from his family. “Nyx.” He responded quietly, “Will this be an issue for you and Erebus?”

“Are you kidding? Of course not. You’ve done a great job babysitting. But of course, you’ll have to tell someone that you’re here.” The deity of the Night joked, laughing with sultry and calmness towards his worried expression. “You know I don’t intend to do that, I just need somewhere to stay, that’s all.” Hades rubbed his stressed forehead, making eye contact with Nyx’s deep orbital irises. She was really the embodiment of the night, and all things good of it. Her husband was even more intimidating. “Which is why I’ve made the accommodations for you, my children were rather excited. They all see you as a good person you know.” She injected positivity, sympathetic with him as he leaned over the table connecting the two. 

“Good to know.” He curtly responded as he didn’t want to get any further into anything of the sort. Emotions weren’t exactly his thing. Typical. “Why yes. Shall we get going?” Nyx tucked her phone into a small clutch purse, fixed with rhinestones that reminded Hades of stars-- matching her softly materialized dress hugging the youthful appearance of her body. Standing, she took a hold of the purse and gestured the young troubled God. He responded with a lifting motion, grabbing his coat rather quickly to follow after her who had clicked away with heels of tremendous height. As the two dark figures left, the lights of the cafe flickered, and Hestia, who was wearing a headscarf to keep her blonde tight curls from hanging in her face emerged from the back of the kitchen with a coffee pot in hand. Humming a sweet tune, she blinked when she realized Nyx had left. 

“Hm.” She sighed, placing the coffee pot on the counter in front of her and reaching for a mug to pour some for herself. The Goddess of the Hearth’s solemn green and confused gaze was soon interrupted. 

“Hestia--!! I spill’d cream!” Yelled a small voice from the swinging doors of the vintage cafe behind the confused owner. “Ugh, Hebe!” She retreated to the kitchen once again to see a 13-year-old Goddess covered in cream and crying from her own mistake. Hestia gave an apologetic smile, moving quickly to her with a radiant glow of comfort and beginning to clean the young girl with a tea towel. “Of all the things in the fridge, the cream?!” She joked, lifting Hebe’s head with a jewelled hand to press a small kiss to her forehead. “Don’t tell your mother.”

Hestia had hired Hebe, her sister’s daughter and the Goddess of Youth as her waitress for the cafe. Although she treated it like a home more than a job, and deeply loved her niece since she had no children herself. Hebe resembled her mother, Hera, with great similarity. She was beautiful, and her chubby cheeks added to her ability to get whatever she wanted. Hestia couldn’t have asked for a better companion for her long nights at Hestia’s House . But what concerned her more was the customer that had just left, Nyx. She said that she was waiting for someone, who was it? It bothered her that it would only take about 3 minutes for her to come back out and see no one, and she hoped that the devoted and truthful Nyx wouldn’t be going behind her husband’s back. She knew it was none of her business, but she couldn’t help but wonder in the moments of solidarity she had while getting Hebe ready for the store’s closure. 

Before she could say much to the Goddess of Youth, the phone blared from the front of the store. Several rings had her standing from her kneeling position in front of the girl to walking out of the back and to the persistent phone. 

“Hestia’s House-” She responded into the output end of the landline but got interrupted by a familiar voice. 

“Artemis-? What is it?” The other line sounded panicked, not sure what to expect, Hestia kept a calm aura. 

“What do you mean, who is coming to town?”

Chapter Text

The mansion was large, filled with secret hiding spots and of course, stupidly expensive artwork. Hades had just walked in, removed his shoes and was close behind Nyx who already had a glass of wine put into her hand.

“Thank you, Charon dear.” She nodded towards a suited but silent silver-haired man that gave nothing but a small smile in return. Hades was indifferent, socked feet patting against the ground as Nyx guided him to the study, where Erebus sat with his hand swerving through some paperwork. The Goddess that stood between the two deities was quiet, swirling her wine in its glass and tilting her head as she waited for her loyal husband to look upwards.

“Is there something you need?” The brooding male that represented shadow bellowed from the darkness behind his work lamp. Erebus was not the most intimidating of Gods, after all, Hades’ father was known for intimidation in itself. But, what Erebus had was long wavy auburn hair that paired with his wife’s, multicoloured dragon-like eyes and lots and lots of power. The man could get anything he wanted, all with the best intentions of course-- but Nyx ignored this. She was the one hidden in ignorant bliss, no matter what rumour flowed about her husband having hands on the largest underground contracts there could be. “Oh, it isn’t me darling! It’s Hades, remember?” Her voice was slightly condescending as she slowly sipped on the merlot bitterness within the shiny container. 

“Hades.” He summoned, and the suited individual pushed forward, wondering what exactly he’d ask next. Then, suddenly, all of the lights were on in the study. Erebus had stood and trotted towards him.

“It’s so good to see you.” Nothing more positive could have scared Hades himself more, but he never showed it, responding to the squeezing hug from his elder with a small grunt. “I, too.” 

“I heard you’re staying for a while, why don’t you make yourself at home and take our guest suite? I had the bottom floor one emptied just for you, it might remind you of home.” The male chuckled, the cold damp basement being the environment that may have excited Hades a little. “Wherever you want me.” The God shrugged, looking into Erebus’ shining yellow right eye for a moment as he caught himself in thought. Erebus gave a curious glance to Nyx, who also shrugged in confusion. Something was off in the King’s temperament, and they both knew it. “Hm. Well, you just let us know if you need anything, anything at all.” Leaving Hades’ presence, Erebus moved to his elegant nightmare and gave her a soft and welcoming kiss against the crescent moon on her forehead. 

“We’ll be here for you.”

The pumping of a steady bass-line had everyone in the club entranced, a spell that went through the hot unconditioned air and flowed between heads and exposed skin. Some bodies had parted ways, to reveal a rounded couch of dirty black leather and four deities as they sat. At one corner, a pouting and sipping on gin and tonic Poseidon. His long platinum, almost eggshell white hair was pulled into a loose but fashionable bun, his hot-headed personality was not cooperating with a specific ray of sunshine across from him. 

That was Apollo, surrounded by women and men all wanting a piece. He was the most popular deity, known for many things such as music, art and healing. What he wasn’t good at healing was a broken heart, which he left a trail of wherever he went. All the water God could do was scoff and down his alcohol the further the night went on as Apollo whispered many sentences of love into his company’s ears, spotlight shining on the sun God. Poseidon’s white dress shirt was dishevelled, strained and pulled up to bunch around each elbow, his shiny Rolex attracting attention. Apollo, on the other hand, was wearing a crop top, daisy dukes and a flowing undercut that accented his painfully pearly white smile. 

They weren’t the only ones there, of course.

“Oh, fuck yeah man!” Yelled Hermes, bouncing all over the place from person to person, conversing and embodying the idea of ADHD in his movements. “Rihanna is ICONIC.” The messenger of the Gods, he was known as. Hermes was a man of many, unrealistic talents, and one of those included keeping up with the modern slang where most of the others chose rightfully to ignore it. He had wind-blasted brown hair with red dyed tips, that was slicked back in a rather e-boy looking fashion. He wore pretty much whatever he wanted, he had a very inconsistent style. But, at the current moment, he wore khaki shorts and a dirty green polo shirt that would move in response to his outlandish dancing. One thing that always identified the speedy one was his earrings that resembled wings. As he spinned around the meshing bodies, the last deity overlooked it all. His eyes were dark, glancing at Poseidon and rolling at the rather sour look on his face. 

“Lay back and relax, brother!” His hefty voice pushed through the thick air, breath smelling of brutal alcohol. Zeus was responsible for this, well-- most of it. Apollo had his own thing happening. Zeus, the God of Thunder had one thing in mind, and that definitely wasn’t his wife. His short black hair had a very close resemblance to his brother Hades, but Hades was jacked-- and Zeus was not. He had a “beer belly” as Hermes would say, but that didn’t stop him from having an affair with almost everyone on the planet. His style wasn’t exactly consistent with the amount of money in his bank account but anyone who knew Zeus knew he was loaded.

The four deities were living quite the life in harmonic excitement, that is, of course, the queue for something bad to happen. Something was someone .  

As her hips sway side to side, her almost rapunzel length hair drag behind. Her eyes were sultry, easily manipulating and seductively sweet. The crowd immediately parted, pushing in behind her to follow in a needy bleeding wound of love. The sour Poseidon spit out his drink all over his dress pants, and Zeus choked on his beer. Heart eyes were visibly seen on every mortal that crossed her path, men, women and every deity that didn’t vow for chastity, and all she could do was smirk in response. 

“Hi boys.” She looked down at her crimson red nails, smiling as she could feel them all stand and move towards her. Apollo was immediately the first to stand, as a superficial man, looks were almost everything. Almost. It was Aphrodite, after all.

“Relaxing is now not an option,” Poseidon side-eyed Zeus, who was smiling down at the shorter love Goddess that had him in her reigns. “No- I get to talk to her first! ME.” Hermes interjected, shoving the Thunder God away and slipping in to say hello. “Aphrodite! It’s a plea-” He was soon stopped by a punch to the face, resulting in a squeak from the traveller. “WOAH- ouch..” 

Zeus wiped a drop of blood from his knuckles, and Aphrodite cocked an eyebrow. “No fighting now, I’m here to have a good time, aren’t you?” As Poseidon began arguing with Hermes over the punch, Aphrodite pulled Zeus aside with a single finger running down the deep necked shirt he wore. The love Goddess was up to no good. 

“I’m in love with y-” Hermes was soon dragged away by his ear as Poseidon tried to keep him away from what he thought was his own crush. 

“Zeus, why don’t we find somewhere to be… Alone?”

Chapter Text

“What do you mean, who is coming to town?”

The curly-headed blonde reached to her head, slowly removing the headscarf that restricted the flow of her loose frizz. Leaned over the table, she played with the cord of the landline nervously. Artemis sounded scared, worried and most of all, angry. What was causing all the havoc? Well, that would soon be answered by a small answer, a name that dare not be muttered into the innocent ears of a maiden.

“ Aphrodite.” 

It was whispered into the phone with a broken voice, Hestia had assumed she was worried about Apollo, her twin brother.

“That’s it! I’m going to shoot her in the face with a-”

“Artemis, relax. I doubt she’s here for Apollo...” Hestia’s emerald green eyes squinted with worry, searching the glowing lights of the empty cafe in front of her for an answer. Why was she here? The first time Aphrodite had appeared, marriages were torn apart, but she left soon after that. The city was left much like Apollo’s visits, but instead of broken-hearted one night stands it was riddled with jealousy and affair. The deity stood up once again and removed the apron that was tied around her vintage styled dress, shoving it into the shelf underneath the counter.

“I need to take Hebe home, don’t tell anyone about this. If Zeus finds her…” The continuously stressed and intense expression on her face became more and more apparent as her lips moved on. Hebe approached the Goddess excitedly, dressed in a spring jacket to cover up the stain the dairy made earlier. Hestia adjusted the jacket and smiled to hide her emotions. This woman had ruined her sister’s marriage, and they were just getting everything together. Hestia wished to see Hebe in a better place, and the place was approaching. She hoped to Gaia that Aphrodite would find her way to another suspecting man that wasn’t Zeus. “Alright sweetie, let’s go home shall we?” 

Before they left, Hestia had closed the doors, turned off all the lights and locked everything up on the way out. It was pitch dark, but the headlights of her small Volkswagen Beetle illuminated their path as the thirteen-year-old sang to the radio beside her. Her fingertips tapped along with the rhythm as she pulled up to the expensive bungalow that Hera and Zeus had lived in with Hebe. The other sons of her sister, Hephaestus and Ares had moved out already, being of age a lot quicker than Hebe. Hestia approached the door with an unsaid feeling of uneasiness, pulling the door open for Hebe and dragging in behind her.

“Momm!! We’re home!! I served coffee! I served coffee!” The young one yelled, running towards the living room where Hera sat, watching her favourite TV show in a silky nightdress. One thing the two sisters shared with their third, Demeter, was the signature blonde hair. Hera’s was more expensively styled, highlights and extra tones slipped in seamlessly whereas Hestia’s remained messy and natural. Hestia though was the only sister with curly hair. Hera’s hung in a soft bob, smiling with glossy lips and holding her relaxed arms out for her daughter’s welcome hug. 

The curly-headed woman smiled genuinely at the sight of them together, knowing everything they went through and seeing the visual improvement so easily. “Good evening, sis.” The bubbly Hearth Goddess gestured a hello, still wearing a jacket over her work dress. 

“Hestia, dear. You’re inside for once, that’s funny.”

“Where’s Zeus?”

“He’s out with the boys, as usual. Hermes, Poseidon and Apollo always keep him the busiest.”

“You really think Apollo is a good idea?”

“I can’t control him…” Hera’s eyes saddened for a moment, rubbing the back of Hebe’s before pulling out of the hug. “Why don’t you go get ready for bed?” With a soft nod, Hebe was running out of the room and up the stairs, surprisingly the stain on her dress going unnoticed by the Goddess of Marriage. 

“You should have a say in where he goes… Especially since..” Hestia almost let it slip, but she received a cocked eyebrow from her sister.

“Since what? He cheated on me multiple times? I think at this point I’m going to give up on trying. Monogamy is another marriages’ game, right? Not for me, nope.” She seemed a little off, maybe the water in the glass in front of Hera wasn’t water. 

“Hera..” Hestia softly moved closer, 

“No… I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But there’s something you should know…”

Chapter Text

His solemn steps down the stairs called to his mind, focusing clearly on how each foot moved, from stair to stair each one climbed towards the summit of the mansion. Nyx and Erebus mingled loudly to each other, laughing, kissing and sharing love while Hades found himself peering into the huge living room of the mansion’s main floor. His jet black hair fell over his forehead as he did so, eyes quietly searching for someone just in case he wasn’t alone. 

“Since when was Uncle Hades back?” A voice called from behind his buff shoulders halfway into the living room, causing Hades to jump back and hold his chest in fear. “Ah. You scared me.” Although the sentence was true, it wasn’t spoken with the same emotion he had said. He looked rather annoyed, in fact. Not scared in any way. The voice turned into a face, and Hades could finally recognize who it was. 

“Hemera.” A small smile made its way to the King of the Underworld’s face, she was always a charming Goddess, beautiful brown hair with sandy highlights, and of course a ton of freckles that covered her face and body. She was the embodiment of day and was the second eldest daughter of Erebus and Nyx’s bloodline. The sunshine Goddess squeaked with delight, and ran into Hades with arms wide open, nothing but happiness for him-- but this feeling was not reciprocated. Hades’ eyes closed in the small sense of comfort he got from her. Her scent and her presence felt so endearing, Hades missed this feeling. He had known the girl since her childhood, but he shied away from the hug after a couple of seconds. 

“I’m so glad to see you!! Good to know you came here instead of your stinky-head brothers! They don’t deserve your presence after what they did to you.” Hemera pointed at the stiff God with a stern but playful finger, swinging back and forth on her heels as she awaited a response from him. She was mature but she had the aura of a free young woman, one who knew what she wanted but spoke with a young heart.  

“Yeah… Just don’t tell them I’m here okay? It was a favour from your parents that I’m here in the first place, I don’t want to ruin their t-”

“Don’t be so melancholy!” She pressed on, marching rather exaggeratingly into the living room with Hades dragging behind her in what seemed like an unspoken following game they’d explored in the past. 

“Ugh, I can basically smell the disgusting-ness of you from here.” Another voice called from the couch, the male buried in his phone and slouching into the cushions with a squished face. Dressed like a greaser from the 50s, the God of Death, Thanatos found himself unimpressed by Hemera’s presence. “Get out.” He hissed like an upset cat. He was the brother, one of the twins that Nyx had birthed-- and he wasn’t too excited about life, especially since death was his favourite thing. Hades had always felt a connection with him in a brotherly way, but he never understood how he worked. Thanatos was very picky in his friends, lovers and who he considered family. Hemera wasn’t considered anything to him, and when the Death God stood he shoved his hands in his pockets and stared into the golden eyes of his happy sister who was pouting at his words. 

“Why don’t you?” She giggled, knowing that was how he was-- any other spectator of this interaction would think Thanatos was about to beat her up-- Hades just stood there. 

“I’m busy.”

“You don’t look like you’re doing anything, hehe.”

“I am.”

Hades started to leave into the downstairs study, where Hemera began to follow him in a rush and connected their arms by the elbow. “Uncle Hadessss..” She whined, “Aren’t you going to tell me why you’re here? You can tell the favourite child anythingg~” The golden-eyed girl purred, poking Hades softly on the tip of his nose. 

“No.” His monotone voice responded, reaching into his pocket to check his pocket watch that connected to his suit on a gold chain. It was half-past 1 am, and Hades’ eyes drooped. As a man with insomnia, sleeping wasn’t easy, but Hemera never slept, and that’s how they knew each other so well. When Hades was a younger adult, Hemera was a bright-eyed energetic child who always found her way into his room late at night to bug him. She knew he’d never sleep, so she decided to use her last bash of energy on him. ‘Go to sleep, sunshine.’ He’d say, slowly stroking the 6-year-old’s long brunette hair. ‘But I can’t.. ’ Hemera would respond, and this would go on for hours until she had a 2-hour nap. 

In this very moment, Hemera’s eyes were sombre, realizing that something really must have been wrong, grabbing him by the forearm and making him sit on a nearby chair. “You’re gonna sit there, and tell me what’s wrong!” Her voice was slightly raised, knowing that her family was most likely getting ready for bed in the other areas of the house. Hades looked at the hardwood ground for a while, inspecting each board in a fit of not wanting to share his feelings… He didn’t want to tell her. When his eyes raised from the dusty floor, they were watering slightly, tears dared to barge from his sockets.

“I’m just… Useless.”

Chapter Text

The bass of the club that held Zeus, Hermes, Poseidon, Apollo and the newly introduced Aphrodite had the minds of the mortals turning to mush. Their eyes were closed in euphoria as the Water god of long white locks was giving punishment to the pushy Hermes; yelling in his direction and grabbing him by the ear. Apollo had been dragged back to that same large leather black and worn couch where he was surrounded by distractions. 

Aphrodite, who had Zeus moving closer and closer towards her lips was smirking in villainous victory. No one could face her, she was an unbeatable boss of 1000 HP, her trance was enough to pull the seas apart molecule by molecule. Zeus’ large clammy hands lifted to the frame of her face, holding her expression within his fingers just to pull her closer and press their lips together. It felt like fire, burning desire bubbling up to the surface only held back by surface tension. 

This isn’t the first time the desire rose within Zeus, and it was the cause of his broken marriage that was held together by his wife, Hera. Leaving all the cheating he could want to be his, and he never passed a chance. Hera wasn’t just known for her good relationship advice, she was known for being the most jealous Queen and Goddess of them all. Hera and Aphrodite had an ongoing rivalry like no other, and Hera at this point had given up. Her spirits were ruined and raw each time she was left alone with Zeus, and she was there to take care of Hebe above all. As his drunken lips continued to kiss away at his future, Aphrodite smiled softly against them. The Goddess of Love was triumphant. Nothing could prove Zeus’ love for affairs more than this, it almost seems as though he needs to think with more humility. 

As the two pulled away in breathless pumps, they realized that their bodies had moved, and they were now isolated with each other in a room nearby the main club. Poseidon and the too-cool-for-school Hermes had stopped fighting because of this since Aphrodite was now out of the picture. In that cleansing moment of relief, Poseidon realized with his messy long white hair in a bunch, that Zeus was Aphrodite’s main goal. Just before Hermes could call Hera among the realization, Poseidon immediately grabbed the charmed phone and began dialling Hestia’s number instead. “Don’t you realize that if Hera knows there’ll be like 10 more problems on our plates?!” He yelled at the red boy before listening to the long drawn out rings of the phone. When Hestia answered in a small whisper Poseidon plugged his free ear that was being drowned by music. 

“Aphrodite got Zeus!” He yelled into the phone microphone, “What do we do?!”

“She.. Did?”

“She isn’t playing around this time! She wants war.”