Chapter Text
When Aphrodite revealed herself to him, he was in Elysium.
He grinned, the sight of the pink wisps surrounding her boon was enough to raise his spirits by itself. He moved, shifting his grip on his blade as he reached out for the boon, the warmth of it spreading across his hand in a pink wave as a distant titter filled the clearing.
“Hello, Lady Aphrodite,” he said, watching idly as the boon dissolved across his skin in a sea of glitter.
“Hello, Zagreus, dear,” her voice rang out through the clearing, still distant, but sounding closer. “I see that you’ve been quite busy in regards to that little death god of yours, how delightful.” She cooed, continuing before Zagreus could even hope to be embarrassed. “And perhaps even that fury I’ve witnessed you with on occasion, it’s all very sweet.”
He huffed out a laugh, unable to keep a smile from toying at the corner of his lips. “Thank you, lady Aphrodite, I believe that it’s all very sweet as well.” It was in his nature to be cheeky, and Aphrodite’s light giggle made it clear that she didn’t mind.
Aphrodite continued to speak, still keeping her boons close to her, not wanting to gift them quite yet, and Zagreus found that he didn’t mind too terribly much. “It’s all been going quite slow though, from what I can see up here. Relationships normally move fairly fast in Olympus, it seems as if you’re taking your time!” Another light laugh, and Zagreus still grinned, more amused than anything else. Perhaps if he wasn’t too concerned about potential offense when it came to the recipients of his interests, he’d be more proactive.
He wasn’t too terribly concerned, however. If they wanted to take their time then he would oblige them as best he could.
“I mostly just do what feels right, Lady Aphrodite.” He said, idly scanning the clearing to be sure no other shades would feel the need to make their presence known.
It was calm, though, peaceful, as Aphrodite began speaking again, her voice nothing more than a gentle coo. “I do have plans, though, dear Zagreus. I’d hate for you to take too long to find love for yourself.” She said, and he raised a brow, letting her continue. “Let me handle it from here, dearest, you’ll be able to thank me later.” He straightened, not exactly liking the sound of that, and had to steady himself when the same warmth from before spread through his entire body, heavy and insistent.
“Lady Aphrodite-“ he began, stumbling over his words as his head grew heavy, eyes going half-lidded as the sensations grew more intense, as if he was truly struggling to keep from falling asleep.
“There we go, dear, just close your eyes.” Aphrodite purred, her voice warm and welcoming as Zagreus’s head began feeling as if it’d been stuffed with cotton.
He murmured something, nonsensical even to himself, as his body swayed, legs trembling as they gave out underneath him, Aphrodite letting out a pleased noise from somewhere as his eyes fell shut.
The last thing he heard before he slumped fully on the grounds of Elysium, his surroundings slowly growing dark, was another short series of giggles from Aphrodite, the goddess sounding terribly amused.
-
Thanatos hadn’t seen Zagreus for a few days, or well, what qualified as days if he judged time by the same way mortals did.
More times than not, Zagreus would manage to gather his attention by himself. He was easy to detect as he tore his way through the underworld, the defeated shades he left behind were more than enough for Thanatos to find him whenever he wished.
There hadn’t been much of that for a while, though, and he had no idea why.
He’d initially thought that Zagreus had finally taken a rest, perhaps even given up on his mission to leave the underworld, but a quick as around the house of Hades didn’t answer his questions. If anything, they only served to create more.
Hypnos had been entirely unhelpful, as he always was. Nyx, though, hadn’t been able to direct him towards Zagreus either, and neither had Megaera.
It was interesting, different enough from how everything had gone before, and he was intrigued enough by everything that he gave in and went searching for the prince himself.
Popping between the different realms wasn’t much of a struggle for him, he was able to talk to Charon, at least, the boatman pointing him in the direction of Elysium when he’d asked if he’d seen Zagreus and, finally, Thanatos was getting somewhere.
It was embarrassing, almost, the lengths he was going through to search for Zagreus after only missing him for a few days. Something, though, felt different about this.
The verdant fields of Elysium were as beautiful, as inviting as always, and he began his search anew.
The gentle sounds of the river around him were calming, soothing and kind, and when he finally caught a glimpse of Zagreus’s telltale red clothing, relief filled him.
Zagreus didn’t shift from where he lay on the ground as he drew closer, despite the death toll making it blatantly clear that he’d arrived. It was hard to keep from being a bit irritated, Thanatos feeling oddly stung at the lack of notice. Zagreus had always been the type to greet him whenever he arrived and Thanatos found that he didn’t quite like when that wasn’t the case.
However, when he drew closer, and saw the haphazard way Zagreus had thrown his blade to the side, an odd feeling of foreboding filled him. “Zagreus,” Thanatos said, drawing ever closer and dropping to the earth, a rare enough occurrence that it was enough to make him feel off balance.
Zagreus made no sound, even when Thanatos leaned down to meet him. He eyed Zagreus’s face, taking in the gentle expression that crossed it, and felt something twinge in his chest at the soft exhale the prince let out. Ah, so he’d fallen asleep after an encounter, hm? Perhaps his constant refusal of rest had finally caught up to him at the worst of times.
He eyed the way Zagreus’s laurels continued to burn, a slight crackling sound coming from them as the leaves burned and drifted around the space, blowing out into ash before landing on the surrounding grass. Relief filled him as Zagreus slept on, the light breaths that drifted out from his partially opened mouth ruffled the nearby grass, and Thanatos felt a bit silly at all his concern.
“Zagreus,” he said, voice dry as the prince slept on, chest slowly rising and falling with his breaths as he made up for the blatant lack of sleep he’d allowed himself ever since he’d started his mission to leave the underworld.
Thanatos sighed, reaching a hand down to press chilled fingertips to Zagreus’s warm skin, waiting for the prince to wake up with a startle.
And yet, Zagreus slept on, the gentle pulse of his blood underneath Thanatos’s fingertips was comforting, but not quite what he’d been looking for. “Zagreus, wake up,” he said, moving to shake the prince awake, not harsh, but insistent, an uncomfortable feeling making him grimace when Zagreus did nothing beyond shift with Thanatos’s movements.
He shifted to sit on his knees, folding his legs underneath himself as he set down his scythe, reaching to wake Zagreus up with both hands, as was apparently necessary.
“Come now, Zagreus, you are being childish.” He chided underneath his breath, trying to jostle him awake, the uncomfortable feeling from before coming back with a vengeance as Zagreus remained unmoving beyond his continued breaths.
Zagreus’s laurels continued to make the soft cracking noises as they burned, and for the first time, Thanatos felt concern burn in his chest.
A thin breath left him, and he scanned Zagreus’s body, looking for any sign of harm. He had no idea how to feel when he saw that there seemed to be nothing wrong.
From what he could see, Zagreus had fallen asleep and simply not woken back up.
“If you don’t wake up, I’m taking you back to your room.” He threatened lowly, knowing just how much Zagreus loathed to lose progress. His words went ignored, through what seemed to be no fault of Zagreus’s own, and he sighed. Bracing himself, he slipped an arm underneath Zagreus’s shoulders, scooping the upper half of his body up off the floor.
Thanatos let out a tightly controlled breath when Zagreus’s head slipped, dropping forward and getting caught in the junction between Thanatos’s head and shoulder. He was distantly grateful for the armor that protected his own neck.
It was hard to keep from complaining to himself as he moved to scoop up Zagreus beneath his knees, the prince as small as ever in his arms. Thanatos was grateful for that fact. As much as Hypnos enjoyed to tease Zagreus for being smaller than them all, Thanatos found that he enjoyed the prince’s diminutive height. “You’re lucky I’m not leaving your sword here,” he said, unable to keep the irritation from his voice as he moved to grab both it and his scythe, struggling a bit to balance it all.
Zagreus let out a heavy sigh as Thanatos stood, and he paused, listening closely as his breathing evened back out.
Well, he would leave, then. Best not to dawdle here where shades could see the god of death seemingly cradle the prince of the underworld in his arms. Thanatos feared that the drama would spread like wildfire.
Just before he went to teleport back to the house of Hades, he was sure that he heard a distant giggle in the faraway fields of Elysium, but he wasn’t sure.